Death Breeds Angels
by l'heure bleu
Summary: Edward and Bella still can't catch a break. Jacob's missing, unexpected competition for Edward's affections is sending Bella into misery, and the Denali Coven is taking desperate and vicious measures for revenge, putting the Cullens in a tricky position.
1. Broken

**Author's Note:** _This story was previously called **Watch the Sky**, in case you thought it was a new story. I changed the name because I changed the ending._

**NOW COMPLETED!** ... finally, huh? It took a while, and a lot of stress - but I finally managed to finish this, even 7 whole days before Breaking Dawn. Woot! :)

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

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Chapter One.

**'Broken'**

_I wish Edward were here, _I thought anxiously. He was usually waiting for me as I entered my room for the night. Tonight he wasn't – and that made me anxious.

Almost as if he could hear my thoughts – which I knew for a fact he couldn't – the figure of my inhumanly perfect vampire _fiancé _(sigh) was suddenly next to me, his arm around my waist soothingly, his cheek resting on my head as he kissed my hair softly. All I'd heard was the muted, dull _thud_ of the bedroom window closing.

"Hi." He let go of me, smiling my absolute favorite breath-taking crooked smile, gracefully lowering himself into a sitting position on the bed, and pulling me gently along with him. Above his glorious smile were his brilliant golden eyes, smoldering at me pleasantly, and, as always, sending me spiraling into a daze. My mind went blank and I could not remember the greeting I was going to say.

Edward chuckled softly at my response to his salutation, and I managed, with some reluctance, to tear myself away from his gaze. I was perfectly contented with throwing my arms around his marble-like neck, and laying my head on his ice-cold shoulder. He shifted me so swiftly that I didn't really know how it happened. I sighed happily and closed my eyes.

There are moments, just like this, when I wish with all my heart that I could freeze time, or at least slow seconds into hours, and just stay in one moment for an eternity. So maybe I was a little nervous about marrying Edward, maybe I _was _worried about what everyone would think about our engagement – about what they would assume about us – and maybe I _was _worried about what Charlie and Renee would do. That hadn't stopped me from agreeing to it, even after he'd given me a choice, even after he'd seen things my way. I wanted nothing more than Edward, to be here leaning against him for eternity. If marrying him was the only way to get my Edward-filled eternity, I was up for the challenge. All I wished for was to have him hold me, listening to my heartbeat speed up with his touch, with his breath on my cheek, the sweet aroma captivating me and making my head spin, having him so close that my whole body felt electric.

All too soon, Edward stood up, pulling me with him, setting me down on the bed delicately. He started to pull away from me. _NO!_ Every fiber of my being screamed in protest, and I tensed, firmly adjusting my grasp on his arm. "Don't go." I whimpered. I knew he was only going to hunt, but part of me was unwilling to let him go after we'd just agreed to get married such a short time ago. I wanted him with me forever here on out- _forever._ No matter how selfish that sounded, I _needed _him. Tonight felt so different from any other night; something was off.

When Edward looked up at me, his eyes were wary, something I didn't understand.

"What's wrong?" I asked apprehensively, running my fingers along his strong jaw. He closed his eyes.

"Nothing. Just go to sleep." His smile was forced – I could tell he was lying… something was bothering him. But I was too exhausted (from days of laying awake worrying about the newborn vampire attack) to stay up, frustrating the information out of him tonight. I decided to ask him about it in the morning – I knew that Edward had an over protective streak, but he also would've sighed and told me what was wrong if he didn't think it was that bad. Now I was worried.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Please bare with me, this is my first Fan fiction ever, and I'm hoping it doesn't end up being too stupid ... It's my new life goal to finish it before Breaking Dawn arrives. Let me know if this fic sucks, or is interesting, or ... whatever. Just review!


	2. You Are My Reason For Breathing

**Author's Note:** This is my first fanfic ever, so I would appreciate your reviews and comments, they would help me immensely.

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

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Chapter Two.

**'You Are My Reason For Breathing'**

If there was no Jacob Black, I'd be dead. I realized it, believed it with every inch of my being, yet it changed nothing. Because without Edward Cullen, I wouldn't even be alive.

I hadn't seen Jacob in months, and even though I missed him immeasurably, I knew had to give him some space. Could we ever be friends again? That question haunted me horribly. I knew the answer, but I refused to think it. It wasn't fair. I hadn't asked for Jacob to love me, I'd made it clear from the beginning that my heart belonged to Edward, and still he tried. He _had _to make me love him back. Did he honestly think it would change anything? It changed nothing. I couldn't leave Edward. If an ordinary human girl could imprint, Edward would've been my imprint. The only thing that had changed was that I'd hurt them both in loving them both. _I think Jacob knows that now_. I thought sadly. I glanced at Edward out of the corner of my eye, and he looked distant, preoccupied. He was staring out the window absently. Not for the first time, I was glad that he couldn't read my mind.

"What was wrong?" I asked him suddenly, pulling him out of his reverie. He looked at me, surprise coloring his darkening eyes,

"Hmm?"

"You know…" I leaned in closer, tilting my head and wishing my eyes could do to him what his did to me. "Last night. Something was bothering you, I could tell…" My head started to swim with questions. Was it because of Jacob? Did he still think I would be better off with a human life after all we'd been through? Was it because I was putting off telling Charlie about the wedding? He knew I was resigned to marrying him, if that's what he wanted. I just wanted him to be happy. So why was he so distraught? "Edward?" I said, tentatively, not knowing what else to say. He put his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him, but it was in a distracted, cheerless way. "Edward." I said again, sharply, anger coloring my tone. He smiled half-heartedly at me.

"I was just wondering about the future."

His words made me lose control. I panicked. The world started to spin in the opposite direction, everything was moving backwards, and I had to grasp on to his shoulder to keep myself up. "The Future"? Our future? Was he reconsidering our deal? Was he tired of me already? I had promised myself that he loved me, that he'd sworn he would never hurt me again, not like he did before – not like I'd hurt him. Was everything happening all over again?

"Bella?" He sounded alarmed. Strong hands wrapped themselves around me, picking me up off the floor. He held me against his chest. Breathing into my ear. "What's wrong?"

"Edward, you can't - !" My voice sounded hysterical, even to me, and I watched as his face shifted and he raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Not _our _future, exactly, Bella, which I hope you aren't changing your mind about?" He was trying to distract me. I refused to let it work. I gave him a pointed look of exasperation. He sighed. "I still love you. More than anything. I always will, you know that. I was wondering about someone else…" Maybe it was just because I had been guiltily thinking about him all morning, or maybe something just clicked in my head, but I knew who Edward meant even before I asked the question.

"J-Jacob?" I bit my lip, trying to make the lingering hysterics fade away. Edward nodded solemnly.

"Bella … Don't get upset. Don't be rash, there's nothing we can do…" He leaned away from me slightly, as if worried that I would inflict physical pain on him after I heard the news. As if I could. I waited, a fountain of fear bubbling up in my chest. "Bella, Jacob ran away last night."


	3. The Runaway

**Author's** **Note:** Sorry if the quote of Jacob is wrong, I don't actually have my copy of eclipse here at the moment, my friend is reading it, so I'll just fix it later. Don't forget to comment! I could use your assistance. I'm not really sure where this story is headed at the moment... Any ideas? (hint hint _review_ nudge nudge)

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

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Chapter Three.

'**The Runaway'**

"Jacob is …" I struggled to find the right words in the whirl and disarray of thoughts that blurred my mind. "…Gone?"

Edward's eyebrows contracted uneasily. He was leaning slightly away from me, taking in my reaction carefully. His eyes were pleading as if this were his fault; as if I was about to lash out at him for this at any second. I felt defeated. Hadn't it been only a few days ago that I'd talked to Jacob? That I'd (I shuddered at the thought, but only a little) _kissed_ him?

Disbelief. That's how I felt. I was dreaming again – dreaming that Edward was worried, that something was wrong, that Jacob was missing…

All at once, Edward's prediction came true. It was an involuntary reaction. Suddenly I was clawing into his shoulder, reaching for his face, digging my nails and fists into his body so hard that if he wasn't a virtually indestructible vampire, he would be bruised and bleeding on the floor. The thought of blood promptly made me sick, and I was pressed against Edward to steady myself, yet I was still trying, in vain, to attack him.

He gently pulled my thrashing limbs away from his body, his expression unsurprised. He held my wrists in the air, waiting for my attack to subside. I gave into the overpowering tears that had been threatening me, and he sighed, looking torn. He seemed to want to comfort me, yet he also seemed to know I wanted space to think. "Alice told me you would react like this." He whispered after a while.

I was instantly alert. "Alice?" How could she have seen Jacob? "Alice _saw_ Jacob?" A thousand questions flooded my mind. What did this mean?

Edward gave in to the side of himself that wanted to comfort me and wrapped his arms around me tightly. "Don't worry … the pack is sure he's fine. Alice just saw me telling you this when I'd decided to tell you, and she told me how you would react. I wasn't sure if I wanted to hurt you; last night I was still undecided about telling you." It explained a lot. Sort of.

"So … how did you know he was missing?" I asked, shaken. Edward smiled at me, a tentative grin, as if he were both excited and embarrassed.

"Seth."

"_Seth_? Seth the _werewolf_, Seth?" I was amazed and shocked. Edward was getting along with a werewolf? A werewolf was getting along with him? When did that happen?

"Yes. He trusts me, I guess …" Edward shrugged … "He called to let you know Jacob was missing, he thought you might want to know, and he was worried you'd be angry if you didn't. The pack isn't sure exactly where he is, he's been careful to cut off communication. They're on the lookout, though. Seth thinks Jacob's just gone to get some space until …"

I crumbled, Something inside me broke and I felt like screaming. It was pure agony, as If I'd just been the one viciously assaulted. "Until after the wedding." I said, almost inaudibly. Edward nodded. I realized then that I may never see Jacob again. I had abandoned him, and then I would be becoming a vampire, and Jake would never even want to look at me.

"_I'd rather you were dead." _

His voice cut through me like a knife, as if he were right next to me, his anger and pain stabbing me with every syllable. He'd prefer to see me dead than with Edward. Dead. Jacob was gone, and I wondered if he would ever come back.


	4. Chemistry Of A Car Crash

**Author's Note:** Thanks so much to Bella Cullen33 for a super sweet review. I'm glad you like my story, I just hope I don't totally mess up and make you never want to read it again.

This chapter is pretty much fluff ... I just wanted to show how Bella made the decision to put up with marriage, and I wanted to write about Edward and Bella telling everyone they were engaged, because I don't think anyone but Alice and Jacob knew by the end of eclipse. Of course, I was _going_ to write about telling Angela, but my pen did that thing again...

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

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Chapter Four.

'**Chemistry Of A Car Crash'**

"_Come on_, Bella, it's not that big of a deal. Just put the ring on and _leave it there._" Alice was watching me contemplate whether or not to tell Charlie about our engagement yet. Edward was standing to my left, half-amused, half-frustrated. I'd agreed to be officially "engaged" and to get married at the end of the summer, but I still didn't want to face the public. The only people who knew of our engagement as of yet were Edward, Alice, and I.

"Just put it on, and everyone will just realize it themselves. You're giving me a headache with all these split second decisions; every few minutes I get another vision. Just make a choice!" Alice insisted. I glared at the ring that promised to make-or-break me, that horrific figure of doom that sparkled like Edward in the sunlight…

"Alice, I can't." I said after a while. Both she and Edward let out an audible sigh. Edward took my hand in his, forcing me to stop putting the ring off and on. With his other hand, he forced me to make eye contact with his dazzling topaz eyes. I was screwed.

"Bella, you are planning on marrying me, right?" His eyes locked unto mine, and he widened them a little in mock disbelief. "Are you just going to not invite anyone? Think of how crushed Alice will be! Think of how upset Charlie and Renee would be to find you secretly married. To a vampire, no less. Or are you just backing out altogether? Are you_ refusing_ to marry me, after all we've been through? I thought you loved me? I thought…" He leaned in to breathe on my neck, "I thought you wanted me to change you." He knew that I _did _want all those things, and curse Alice for teaching him how to pout and trick people into giving in to his demands. I sighed, holding my hands up in surrender.

Edward grinned cheekily and kissed me. "Thank you. You won't regret this. I love you." I grimaced, knowing full well that I _would _regret it if I ended up tripping on my way down the aisle, or falling into the cake, or having people think…

"Edward. This is not good." I had changed my mind again. Alice sensed what was coming.

"Bella, just say 'Yes' and forget about what everyone will say." She said nonchalantly. She was becoming irritated, and soon she would stop trying to hide it. I turned to Edward, who's eyes were confused.

"I can't get married out of high school to a boy I've known for two years. People will think that I'm stupid or pregnant or something. Or both!" I felt a cold creeping sensation up my spine: fear. I was afraid of what would happen. But why? Why would it matter what people I don't even care about thought? I didn't know why, but it did matter… to me. "People in this age don't just get married and go away for years. That's what we'll do, though, isn't it? We'll get married, everyone will think I'm _pregnant_ or something, Renee will be disappointed, we'll go away to Alaska, we'll make excuses not to visit because I'll be a vampire, people will think we don't want to prove them right, and… and… everyone will just _wait_ for a divorce, or for me to crack…" My voice faded. I didn't want to be thought of like that.

Edward shook his head. "Bella, no one will think that, you'll see. They'll be happy for us. We'll explain to them that we're _in love._ It's what people do." I tried to calm myself down. I had already agreed to this. I said I would do this right, and I would. I loved Edward. That's all that mattered.

"Yay!" Shrieked Alice. She gracefully danced her way closer to me, barely touching the floor, she was so excited. She must've had a vision. "You're going to be soo happy. It's going to be a beautiful wedding! Eeee! I can't _wait_! You just wait and see, Bella…" And with that, she stepped away, looking so much like a ballerina that it hurt me to think of my clumsiness next to her eloquence. She turned around, as if sensing my distress, and added, in a low voice, "And Bella? Remember to wear flats, okay? One's with grip." Edward snorted next to me, having seen the scenario play out in her mind. I elbowed him.

* * *

"Bella, it's going to be fine." Edward assured me, taking my hand in his and leading me into the Cullen's huge house. I didn't know why I was so nervous; it's not as if we were telling anyone else just yet. I _knew_the Cullens would be supportive, but I still felt apprehensive about everything. I squeezed Edward's hand, hoping for support, and hoping he didn't take my reluctance personally. I had gotten over the whole marriage thing; I really _did_ want to marry him now, I just didn't want to face everyone else. Edward squeezed my hand back, just slightly. "They'll be ecstatic, you know." He reminded me.

"I can't believe Alice has managed to keep this a secret for this long." I commented. Edward smiled slyly.

"Alice just wants to be there to make everything prefect, this is a part of her plan."

Just before we reached the porch, Edward grew tired of our slow pace and picked me up in his arms. He carried me into the house so quickly my head spun. "Hey!" I protested grumpily. He smiled. Suddenly a small blur of colour hit me, knocking the wind out of me, and Alice's arms were around me, pulling me out of Edward's arms and unto me feet.

"Do it now! Do it now!" She cried joyously, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. I was surprised that she didn't take flight. Edward put an arm between her and me and gave her a look of warning. Alice stopped shouting, but she kept fidgeting happily. All of the Cullens were in the living room – some looking expectant, others confused. Rosalie looked bored, and I felt a little bit worse. She didn't like me, but she didn't completely hate me now, either. I wondered how she would take this news.

Edward cleared his throat, staring around cheerfully. "Bella and I … Are getting married."

The response was instantaneous. Alice laughed happily and jumped at least a foot in the air, Jasper rushed over to calm her down, Emmett stood up, reaching over to touch knuckles with Edward, then picked me up in an almost bone-crushing hug. Rosalie said nothing, but stayed where she was, watching the scene. I took that as a good reaction. Carlisle patted Edward on the back and smiled hugely at us both in congratulations. Esme hugged me tightly and whispered about how lucky she was. Alice followed with another hug, and then lots of wedding suggestions: "We should start right now! White table cloths, or blue? We're going to have the wedding in the night, right? Where? Come and try on your dress!" Edward had to push her off me. He laughed at her enthusiasm and my apparent discomfort and took my hand, guiding me downstairs.

"Where are we going now?" I asked hopefully. I wanted to be alone with him, reveling in an eternity together – the Cullens reaction had made me sure of that. Besides, now that the wedding was official, I couldn't back out. A part of me was over the moon that my decision was finally made. I was exited to be with Edward where he didn't have to have his guard up all the time, minding both him and me, pleased that soon I could take care of myself, and I wouldn't be inconveniencing anyone. But a part of me did wish that I wasn't condemned to a Jacob-less life forever because of it. I smiled at Edward, high on the joy of the realization that I would _really_ be with him. "Where are we going?" I repeated, blessed to be going anywhere with him.

"To Charlie's."

I'd spoken to soon.


	5. I Want To Save You

**Author's Note:** This is another really short and kind of awkward chapter (sigh) but I'm still unsure about where this is going, and your reviews would reeeeallly help. Also, thanks so much to the people who are actually reading this, and don't hate me just yet. _If you have ideas, let me know._ Also, there should be another chapter up by tomorrow at the latest, I wrote it last night, and I'm trying to work fast, because the Cullens are playing baseball today, and I'm afraid that the power might go out. :)

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

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Chapter Five.

'**I Want To Save You'**

I stared into the horizon, wondering how I had managed to miss the sun set when I had been sitting here all this time, waiting for it. _Must have been thinking about _her _again._ I thought angrily, dismissively. But a part of me sighed. _Jacob Black,_ I warned myself, _you have to get over her. You can't keep living in memories forever; she made her choice, and it wasn't you._ The thought tore me apart. I loved her, loved her since the day I met her, I'd never left her, never threatened to kill her like the leech could've. I snarled at the thought. I knew the filthy bloodsucker wouldn't hurt her on _purpose_, but he could… forget, or lose control of his bloodlust. I flexed my knuckles unnecessarily – It was unlikely that I would run into a parasite in my refuge in the Yukon.

_And now she's going to become one of them. _The mere thought made my skin crawl. _My Bella_, my beautiful, life loving Bella, exchanging her life and soul to forever be with a vampire. _Why_ couldn't she have chosen me? I loved her, was willing to give her everything, wouldn't make her change a thing about herself – I could give her life, while that damn bloodsucker subjected her to an eternal death. And she just walked right into it so happily, as if she wanted nothing more than to lose everything for a selfish existence. She was hurting me so much.

I knew she would be disappointed in me for running away. But I just _couldn't_ stay. I hoped beyond hope that she could find it in herself to forgive me – and she would, because my perfect Bella was so unselfish, so forgiving… but I could never bring myself to sit quietly and watch the person I loved more than anything lose her humanity, and marry a soul-less creep. A soul-less creep who wasn't _me._

I felt hot tears stream down my face and I wiped them away hastily. I'd promised myself that I would never again shed a tear for Bella Swan. I'd promised myself that I'd get over her, that I would at least try… But the image of her glorious, grinning, glowing face flashed across my mind, as if to tell me: "_You'll never forget her"_.

The Bella in my head was standing close to me, leaning towards me as if to kiss me, the wind whipping her hair around her head in disarray, her expressive, wide brown eyes seeing into my soul, her hand small and cool in mine. I reached out, hoping to touch her, but she wasn't really there ... she was my imagination. A pathetic reincarnation of a friend.

All of a sudden, that image of Bella was erased and a different one swept through in its place. This new Bella made my heart ache. It was a much different Bella, a broken Bella. Her face was gaunt and her eyes were empty, and her arms were drawn tight around herself, as if to hold herself together. There was an expression of immense pain seemingly permanently etched into her face – It was the way my Bella was when that leech had left her there to die. I had tried so hard to save her from it, to fix her so that she didn't have to ever be that way again. I had almost succeeded – almost. I had only wanted to save her life. She had been like fragments of glass; shattered into pieces, but held together by a pathetic strip of tape as a last resort. She was alive, but just barely – a living shell.

It had physically hurt me to ignore the state she was in when she arrived on my doorstep, it had caused me such pain to laugh and joke and fix those motorcycles, trying to help her without having to mention the way she was. I glued the glass back together. It was roughly done, but it wasn't shattered – and then _he _came back. And she still chose him! It made my blood boil. Blood that she had too, for now. Blood pulsing through her veins that put her in danger every second.

I was so angry at Bella for doing this. Angry, yet devastated. She had left me heartbroken, and then expected that we could be friends. How could I be friends with my true love, when she was falling for someone else? How could I stand by and watch, when my soul mate, and the way my life was supposed to be, ran away with a vampire, _became_ a vampire, stopped being Bella and turned into a hard, cold, cruel shell of a person again? I couldn't. Not this time.

"I'm sorry, Bella." I whispered pathetically into the winds, silently praying for the wind to take my words to her. I wanted her to hear my voice, to remember me. But I knew deep inside that she would forget. I had shown her another option – a perfect option, yet she had chosen death. And soon, it would be too late.


	6. Hurricane

**Author's Note:** Sorry this took so long, but it's hard to balance reality and Twilight. :) This is another mostly-fluff chapter (Why is it that they seem the longest?), and the ending is frustratingly ackward, but I wrote it on an impulse. I hope you don't hate it too much. I have a genral idea of which way the story is going now, just listen to the chorus of "Watch the Sky" to get an idea (hint hint) and you can add suggestions, too, of course. You're who I'm writing it for; I want you to like it!

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

Chapter Six.

'**Hurricane'**

We sat in uncomfortable silence for an unbelievably long time. Edward's hand grasped mine firmly, and all I really wanted was to melt against him. But I didn't dare. Occasionally, Charlie's eyes would narrow and stare daggers at our intertwined hands and at my beautiful engagement ring that I was finally wearing, but he said nothing. He'd finished his round of accusations ("You're pregnant, aren't you!") Just like I'd predicted, and after Edward's and my reassurances, his face had slowly lost the strangled purple colour.

Now we sat with baited breath, waiting for the verdict. Of course, Edward had done the talking, because I couldn't bring myself to choke out words at the time, but now I wondered if that were really a good idea. Charlie looked as though he were having an internal struggle with himself.

I squinted at Edward, knowing he could hear what Charlie was thinking, and his expression was stony. I tried to relax, even though I had a sinking feeling about everything.

Finally, Charlie's face turned back to its regular colour completely, and he smirked. "Well … If you want to get married, then … _you _get to tell Renée." Satisfied with his challenge, he and his smug grin left the room. I sighed. I felt Edward stiffen beside me, and I peeked at him through my hair, mystified.

"What's wrong?" I asked, alerted by the anguish on his beautiful face. He just shook his head slightly and pulled me off the couch in an obvious hurry to leave. Charlie looked up, startled, as we bounded out the door, but before he could object, Edward had already closed he door, lifted me – without my express permission – into the passenger's side of his Volvo, hopped into his side, demanded that I put on my seatbelt, and fled the driveway. His face still hinted at torture, which worried me beyond belief. This was not normal Edward behavior.

"What was that all about?" I whispered feebly. He turned toward me, obviously having just been pulled from a reverie.

"Charlie_ really _wants to like me, for your sake, but … he just keeps thinking about …" He struggled to find the right words, and his voice had an edge to it, a bitter, and self-loathing tone. I knew what he was getting at right away, and it upset me. He swore that he would _never_ forgive himself for leaving me so many months ago, but I had tried to make him forget. I'd hoped that he'd gotten over it, because I had. Where was the need to dwell on the past, if he was right here with me, _forever, _inmy entire future?

"I wish that you would _both _just let that go." I cried angrily. My tone was sharper then I'd intended, so I tried again. "I love you, nothing can change that. And you're here, aren't you? I thought you'd gotten past that?" It killed me that he still agonized over what had happened last September, and that everyone seemed to use it against him. Although, Charlie _had_ been coming around a bit lately.

The Volvo accelerated as Edward tapped the gas in frustration. I closed my eyes – as much as I was used to the speed that all of the Cullens seemed to adore, it still made me panic slightly.

* * *

Edward was still brooding over what had happened when we arrived at his house. It annoyed me slightly that he had been joyously spreading "good news" one minute, and now he was internally cursing himself again. _Classic Edward_ I thought indignantly, _Major mood swings._ I wanted him to realize that he had to forgive and forget. I was lucky enough to be with him now, but I knew that if I actually voiced that opinion out loud, it would just get me in trouble:

"_Not this again!" _Edward would say, probably pinching the bridge of his nose, or rolling his eyes at me, _"I thought you'd realized, that you don't see yourself properly; if anyone's lucky, _I_ am to have found_ you." Oh, yeah, so HE was the only one who got to stress out over unimportant things? Figures.

I was distracted out of my daydream by Alice, bounding lithely out to meet us only seconds after we'd arrived, grinning from ear to ear, and clapping her hands impatiently. "Bella! You're just in time!" She laughed, bouncing up and down again, reaching up to kiss me swiftly on the cheek. My heart sank slightly; what could she want now? Judging by how excited she was, it was probably wedding plans, or something else that I had _expressly _asked not to be bothered with.

"Bella," Alice begged, noticing my expression, a pout spreading over her perfect lips, "I need help. The wedding is only a few weeks away, and I _need _your opinion on a few things…" Yep, wedding plans.

"Alice." Edward warned, sensing my discomfort. He tightened his grip on my protectively, but Alice shot him a furtive glance that was apparently supposed to help convey her thoughts. Edward chuckled, letting go of me, so that Alice could grab my hand and drag me along toward the house – too quickly, causing me to trip, but she caught me, looking exasperated – and toward my impending doom.

* * *

"Bella? So what do you think?", Alice was holding up two examples of richly woven fabrics as example for the table cloths, which I was sure cost more than I was willing to know, asking for my opinion. I wasn't partial to either, and I shuddered to think of how much this wedding was going to cost the Cullens. I'd only wanted it to be small.

As if I had voiced this insecurity out loud, Alice glared at me reproachfully. "Oh, Bella. This wedding is going to be small, but I _do _want it to be memorable. Don't you think it would hurt Edward if you couldn't remember the most important day of your life when you became a vampire?" She'd hit me on the mark, and she knew it. I held up my hands, surrendering.

"Alright … I like the blue." _Blue_ was an understatement, as the material the perfect shade of the twilight sky, and was satin-like in texture, and it shone brilliantly, reflecting the light from the room, as if there were real stars sewn into its seams. The second choice was a deep red, almost burgundy, and its texture was as soft as the first, though it felt like something different than satin, almost as if someone had sewn together sand from the ocean floor, perfectly smooth, but slightly different shades of brilliant red. It would've intrigued me if I could stand to look at it, but it reminded me too much of blood.

Alice seemed satisfied with my answer, anyway, and she smiled blissfully, adding the blue fabric to a stack of other selections that had made it through to the final round of wedding décor. "Now, what about your hair?" She murmured, delicately lacing her fingers through a strand of my coarse brown hair. "Up-do? Down-do? Rhinestones? And what about the seating arrangements?" I was relieved to see that she was mostly speaking to herself.

In truth, I cared very little about the wedding itself. The pure thought of my clumsiness being in the center of attention, of me trying not to trip into the caterer, made me shudder. It was the wedding _night_ that allured me. It was the night that Edward and I would finally _be_ together, and hopefully, the night I would turn into a vampire. After a glorious honeymoon, of course. It was the only human experience I needed before Edward would change me. I was looking forward to becoming a vampire, too. I was blissfully happy to think about the day when I would no longer be a burden to the Cullens, when I would belong with them, _really_ belong, and I wouldn't need them to worry about their bloodlust or me getting hurt. I would never again inconvenience Edward, or slow him down.

I wondered fleetingly if my magnet for bad luck would follow me into my vampire life. I really hoped not.

"Bella!" Alice sighed impatiently; she was waiting for me to answer a question I hadn't heard her ask. I shrugged.

"Sorry."

"Bella, if you're _going_ to get married, don't you want to be a part of it?" Alice asked, obviously vexed.

I shrugged again. "Not really … You can do it. I know how much you love stuff like this –" I tried to use a warning tone, to make sure she didn't go overboard, but she cut me off.

"That reminds me!" She grabbed my hand and led me to her oversized closet, holding out a box lined with gold that I hadn't seen her pick up. She held it out to me, her eyes lit up with excitement, and I reached out tentatively to open the box. Inside were two exquisite shoes, with just a slight heel, and a lot of extra grip added, just as she'd promised. They were open-toed and white with a faint gold shimmer, and they were unbelievably stunning. Alice studied my face expectantly, as if she thought I would break out in jubilant dancing. I gazed, awed, at the shoes, shocked that their price didn't bother me, even though I knew at once that they must have cost more than a small apartment. "They were imported. Straight from France." Alice laughed, confirming my thoughts. "I saw that you would love them! And that you won't fall down." She added quietly, though I heard Emmett's booming laugh from somewhere below us, and I was sure he was laughing at her remark.

To my extreme relief, a velvet voice behind us rescued me from Alice's peculiar kind of persecution. "I think Bella should go home now. Charlie will be worried we've eloped, rather than face Renée." Edward was smiling when I turned around, but it still did not reach his eyes. I looked out of the glass wall to realize that it was almost completely black outside; Alice had been torturing me for hours. I frowned at Edward pointedly, but he ignored me, instead watching Alice over my shoulder intently.

"Oh." She gasped suddenly, and I whirled around to see her distracted face, but she was looking up at Edward. I scowled. Was everyone avoiding my eyes today? They were silently communicating, I could tell, and Edward's instant dark expression clued me in to something: this was something I wanted to know about. I knew I was somehow involved by the way Edward strode gracefully and impulsively to my side, putting his arm around my waist.

"Good night, Alice." He said a little too loudly, I stared up at him, stunned, but he did not make eye contact with me. Instead, he had turned back to Alice. She was staring back sheepishly, and I could've sworn that her face was whiter than usual. "This _won't _affect the outcome of things, will it?" He asked her slyly. After a moment's pause, she shook her head. "Good." Edward clarified stiffly, dragging me from the room with an air of impatience he had not had moments ago. Alice's vision had drastically affected his mood. I felt irritated.

* * *

"Edward, what's happening? And don't you dare lie to me again, I want to know." I hedged nervously. He was staring absentmindedly out the windshield, evidently not watching he road. He turned toward me cautiously, scrutinizing my expression for a long moment. Whatever he saw there must have surprised him, because finally, he smiled.

"I don't want to upset you." His tone was light, but his attractive features were crumpled and his eyes were tight. I was not buying it.

"Edward, do you _always_ have to protect me?" I asked in annoyance. He didn't laugh.

"Bella, sometimes you need protecting. You act without thinking things through." He pointed out.

"And _you _overreact, but I don't hide things from you." I shot back.

"You edit." He accused.

"So do you." I retorted, staring anywhere but into his eyes; they could trick me into forgetting what I wanted in an instant. It wasn't fair. I didn't like fighting with him, and it seemed like fighting was all we were doing today. I watched his expression carefully out of the corner of my eye, and it slowly began to clear, leaving him looking bemused.

"Bella, I don't want you to get hurt. Or go looking for Jacob."

"Jacob?" I was instantly alert. "This has to do with Jacob?" A thousand possibilities flooded my mind … he was hurt, or stranded, or attacked, or…

"Not exactly. Alice can't _see _Jacob, remember?" Edward asked, annoyance at my slowness coloring his tone. "But I know how much you love Jacob, and I don't want you to become upset with me, and…" He didn't finish his sentence, but I caught the gist of it.

"Edward!" I griped desperately, "Edward, I would never leave you. Not for Jacob, not of _anyone_. I love you. I just want you to let me in on what's going on sometimes. You told me once that there were no secrets in your family, remember? Then, why are you hiding things from me?" I had him there. I watched as his face turned wistful and I felt no remorse. I needed to know what was happening. I hated feeling like the weak human.

Finally, he stopped the car. We were at Charlie's. I stiffened, refusing to move. He sighed. "It's not important. It's just about the wedding. Alice saw that a few … unexpected things would happen, later … that night." He had dropped his gaze when saying that, and as the possibilities of what could go wrong slinked into my thoughts, I felt my cheeks get hot. Edward looked up, sensing the change, and gently traced my cheek with the back of his hand. He watched me for a moment, before saying, "But its fine. Nothing major has changed. You don't have to worry about anything."

Behind his carefully hidden frustration, I sensed him editing again.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hate to admit this, but I'm really just making this up as I go along, and hoping it ends up readable. Getting to the point, who thinks that Tanya should make an appearance? I mean, Edward had to fight for Bella's affections in Eclipse, Don't you think it's time the favor was returned? Let me know.


	7. Decoy

**Author's Note:** Here's Tanya's first appearance. It's going to be kind of complicated to write about her and Edward, so bear with me. I also want Jacob to actually show up briefly later in the story, maybe he and Bella/Edward can patch things up? And of course Bella's truck has to die. :)

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

Chapter Seven.

'**Decoy'**

Leering at Edward now, I felt impossibly small and weak for the first time in my life. I had always been frustrated with Edward's meticulous "You're a fragile human" attitude, but now, standing in his looming 6'2" shadow that was stretched beyond the imagination; I realized, resentfully, that he was right.

His arms were crossed loosely as he stared down at me, warily studying my face, to gauge my reaction, I supposed. He turned the full force of his blazing topaz eyes on me, and I struggled to breathe, trying to focus on remembering that I was upset with him.

"And why didn't you just tell me? It's not that big of a deal, is it?" I inquired nonchalantly, trying to hide the panic behind my words. But it was in vain – my heart started to speed up, pulsing blood through my veins, I knew he could hear and smell the panic. It _was _a big deal to me, even if I was doing my best to hide it.

We had sat in silence for a deafeningly quiet long time in anticipation, before he had uttered the words with which he had inadvertently sent me to my feet: "_Tanya's coming._"

"What?" I'd asked weakly, feigning indifference. He'd seen through me immediately, casting me an odd look.

"Alice saw her dropping in for a short visit … We _did _include them in the guest list for the wedding, of course, although I never dreamed –"

I cut him off. "_We _did?" I'd gasped, all pretences vanished; I was sure I hadn't gotten a say in this decision.

"Of course." He'd looked genuinely surprised at my question, as though I was asking where my face was located, or as though he'd spent the last few days telling me this over and over again, and I'd been walking around with my fingers shoved into my ears screaming "I can't hear you!", though I was SURE this subject had never come up in our casual conversation.

I stared at him blankly for a moment before he elaborated. "They are old family friends, Bella. We've known them much longer than you've even been _alive_" – I blushed deeply at this reminder of how young I was, compared to the others – "We couldn't just ignore them. Besides, this is a _very_ special occasion."

He'd looked up, frightened, when my heart suddenly stopped. I was in shock. I remembered briefly that he'd been waiting for me to be so when we'd first really talked, in Port Angeles. Shock was what happened to a "normal" person, he'd said. Well, it was happening to me now. I hoped he was happy.

So here we were.

"Why?" I managed to choke out, and he seemed confused by my question.

"Alice assures me that it's nothing to worry about, she won't affect anything, and she's very well practiced at ignoring the call of human blood. No one will get hurt."

"No… That's not what I meant, Edward." My face was getting hot again. Why do I always have to blush! He reached out to stroke my face in the darkness, sensing my cheeks turning crimson.

"_Nothing_ will happen, Bella." His tone was firm. I realized he must have finally caught on to what I meant – "_Why was only Tanya coming, and wasn't she in love with you_!?"

"When?" I felt strangled; I could hear my voice coming out in wild gasps. Edward looked away from me earnestly.

"Soon … in two days." He said sheepishly. I felt as though I'd been slapped.

"_Two Days_?" I struggled against my natural instincts, trying to keep my voice under control, sinking to floor. He reached down to pick me up and deposit me on the bed. My heart stuttered dramatically at his touch, but it did nothing to distract me from my rant. "And she's staying until the wedding?" I continued, leaning toward him in desperation. The wedding was weeks away! He shrugged.

"She actually … wanted to see you change." His expression was unreadable, but he sounded as though he didn't agree with this.

I felt extreme mortification at what was happening. As if I didn't feel insecure enough, as if I wasn't already worried fit to burst at what was to come, now a painstakingly beautiful, perfect, _blonde_ vampire had to add to my stress.

Edward stroked my hair gingerly. "Just get some sleep, Bella." His velvet voice rang with authority. I sniffed. He ignored me, folding down the blankets and tucking me in like a small child.

Somehow, sleep did find me, a nightmarish sleep filled with Greek goddesses in the form of tall, model-like ballerina vampires that put even Rosalie's unparalleled beauty to shame, and that snarled at my blandness before disappearing into the night with Edward, who didn't look back when I called his name in frantic desperation.

* * *

The morning that Tanya was to arrive, I took extra precautions while getting ready for the day – making sure that my clothes were unwrinkled and Edward's favorite shade of blue, brushing through my hair until it was perfectly straight and smooth – I even considered applying a few coats of mascara, but I thought that might be too suspicious.

As I poured over my cereal, I became aware of Edward watching me strangely. I met his gaze. "What?"

He stalked closer to me, his arms outstretched, looking thoroughly relieved that I hadn't continued my rant just yet. He sat down, pulling me onto his lap. "You were screaming in your sleep." He confided. I knew that must have horrified him, and it made me feel stupid. I wondered what he heard – shuddering at the thought of what mindless discordance had leaped out of my mouth. Did he know that I had been jerked awake the last two nights by dreams of Tanya? I was an insignificant, average human. She was sure to be a gorgeous vampire with perfect features and a concentrated loathing of me. I cringed, thinking of Rosalie.

"It's going to be _fine_, Bella." Edward said in an undertone. I leaned into him in resignation and closed my eyes, breathing in his luscious scent until my head swam. After what seemed like an eternity, but felt like only a few fleeting moments, he pulled away to pick up the cell phone that had vibrated in his shirt pocket. "Carlisle? … Yes, we'll be right there." Edward muttered. He lifted me off his lap and set me on my feet before flying up in a lithe movement that I didn't really manage to catch. He turned to me, taking my hand in his. "She's coming."

We were in the Volvo before I could even protest. I thought of how Tanya would react to me when we met – probably the way most vampires did, surprised that the Cullens kept a "pet", and shocked at how the "pet" said things that weren't quite as dense as humans should be.

* * *

We stood in the Cullen's bright, spacious living room, waiting for our "guest" to arrive. I fidgeted fretfully, trying to keep the feelings of jealousy and foreboding at bay, to prevent alerting Jasper.

Alice glided to the door a few seconds before anyone knocked, and I wondered whether it was her sixth sense or her heightened vampire senses that had allowed her to know that our visitor had arrived. I clasped Edward's hand with more than necessary force at the sound of Tanya's knocking, though I was sure he couldn't feel it.

I was _very _much unprepared for the vampire that casually strutted into the room, her walk filled with hip tilts that belonged on a runway. Tanya stood in the doorway, the muted natural light of forks streaming in around her, illuminating and blurring her around the edges, giving her the look of an illusion. I blinked. She was around my height, maybe an inch or two taller, and had soft waves of strawberry blonde hair spilling exquisitely off her shoulders. Her amber eyes were alight with curiosity as they met mine. She was around the same level of pretty as Alice, though she didn't come close to Rosalie's league. I was relieved about that. She also lacked the evil grin and basilisk glare of my dreams, so I managed to breathe again.

As she smiled over everyone, her eyes finally came to rest on Edward. I felt him become stressfully still beside me, and her smile faded just slightly. She tilted her head to the side in a polite, yet mocking way, and said "Hello, Edward" In an unfamiliar drawl. Her voice had a melodious ring to it, like a bell, or wind chimes. Her voice was rich, not high like Alice's, or velvety like Edward's, but smooth as honey, and overly-sweet.

Her features were strictly angular, and her almond eyes seemed to be a slightly darker shade of topaz then the Cullen's, though I wasn't sure. She was lean and athletic, and I could see the muscles rippling through her skin from where I stood. I felt bleakly average in comparison.

Esme greeted Tanya with her usual hug, and Alice with her customary peck on the cheek, though it seemed strained, somehow. Edward moved forward to shake Tanya's hand, and I thought I heard one of them speak softly, though I couldn't be sure.

The moment I looked away from Edward and Tanya, Emmett caught my eye and winked stealthily. I rolled my eyes at him, and saw his face break into a mischievous grin. Rosalie nudged him, her face blank.

"Well, Tanya," Smiled Carlisle after a short-lived second of silence, "Welcome to our home … This is Bella." He gestured to me. I watched Tanya's butterscotch eyes appraise me condescendingly, and felt Edward standing behind me in an instant, his arms around me in defiance to whatever Tanya was thinking. Her eyes moved up to meet his, and the desperate feelings of insecurity and jealousy came back. As the waves of calm spread through me, courtesy of Jasper, I wondered if he knew which one of us was feeling this way – I hoped it wasn't an easy guess.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry about how long the chapters are getting ... I'll try to make the one after next shorter. The next one is going to be just as long, I think (sigh), because I want to re write this one in Edward's point of view. Even though I was originally going to leave it with Bella, Edward is interesting...


	8. Decoy: Edward's point of view

**Author's Note:** This is 'Decoy' In Edward's Point of view (Everybody cheers) Yet another frustratingly long chapter of fluff. Sigh. I tried to make it sound "Edward-ey", by using the first chapter of Midnight Sun as a reference. If you haven't read the first chapter of that, you should! It's unbelievably hard to sound like Edward, wow. Haha, so don't hate me, and don't forget to give me your opinions.

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

Chapter Seven point Two. Or Eight.

**'Decoy 2'**

Studying Bella's reaction, I realized, judging by the aggrieved look on her face, that she'd finally realized just how fragile and _human_ she was. I marveled at the fact that she was feasibly thinking about being massacred by Tanya. I scowled into the gloom.

Bella's arms were crossed, mimicking my posture unintentionally, and panic was seeping through her previously well-composed face. She had queryingly asked me about why Tanya was invited, and flushed with embarrassment at the mention of her young age and naivety. After informing her that Tanya was coming, I concentrated compulsively on Bella's heart, which had stuttered to a halt. Discomfiture filled my empty veins, and I glanced up at her worriedly. I knew by her tormented expression that she was in shock. I wanted to tell her everything would be fine, but I hated lying to Bella, and I knew that I could make no guarantees.

"Why?" She whimpered. I thought she meant "_Why were you worried about her coming?"_ And I didn't understand the significance of the question. She must have known by now that I had only been concerned about her reaction to Tanya's arrival.

"Alice assures me that it's nothing to worry about, she won't affect anything, and, besides, she's very well practiced at ignoring the call of human blood. No one will get hurt." I stated plainly. Why would Bella think that we would allow latently dangerous vampires invade forks, and ruin our wedding? I would never let Tanya near us if I thought she was a danger to Bella's life.

"No… That's not what I meant, Edward." I smelled the blood rush expeditiously to her cheeks and felt the extra warmth. I loved when she did that. I reached out longingly, to stroke her cheek in the darkness, wanting to reassure her, and wondering why she was embarrassed. I knew better than to ask, though – she wouldn't tell me without persuasion.

"Nothing will happen, Bella." I confirmed firmly. Then it dawned on me what she must _really_ mean … Silly Bella, always worrying about trivial things, never her _health_ or _safety_, just doltish things like my extinguished affections for someone. I rolled my eyes, knowing that she couldn't see me through the thick veil of darkness that hung between us – and I was relieved.

"When?" She asked, gasping for air. I looked away from her, shifting my head so that I didn't have to scrutinize her reaction, wondering if I'd made the right choice in telling her, trying hard not to hurt her… I breathed deeply.

"Soon … in two days." I said slowly. I heard her stop breathing, clutching at her throat in horror, a habit she'd come into when I'd first started to talk to her. I wondered if it was because she was afraid one of us might bite her head off one day … and then I shook my head at the disturbing thought. Bella trusted us, maybe even too much, and she wouldn't think that. I turned back to face her.

"_Two days_?" She was screaming in whispered tones, I could tell. She sank to the floor in a desperate sigh, and I reached out for her, pulling her weak body unto the bed. I smiled as I heard her temperamental heart beat erratically, a sound I'd never tire of. It didn't stop her from continuing her pleas. "And she's staying until the wedding?" She struggled out, leaning toward me, sadness and something else that I couldn't identify shining out of her wide brown eyes. I shrugged.

"She actually … she wanted to see you change." I murmured, keeping my expression mask-like with great difficulty, praying that she wouldn't notice the malice in the undertone. Bella picked up on a lot, so I was relieved when she let it go, as if she hadn't noticed. I hadn't wanted Tanya to stay so long, I knew it would strain our relationship, and it hurt me that I was congruent to letting an intruder into our pleasant life. An intruder that I knew wouldn't be particularly _sweet_ to Bella for the duration of her stay.

I reached out to caress Bella's soft, vivid auburn hair faintly. "Just get some sleep, Bella." I heard her sniff angrily in response, and struggled ferociously to hold back laughter. She was so stubborn. I picked her up gingerly in one arm, folding down the blankets and tucking her in tenderly. I knew she didn't appreciate it, but I loved treating Bella this way.

Eventually, she slept soundly, occasionally rolling over, or her eyes flickering open for a moment before closing again. I sensed adrenaline pulsing through her veins, and I knew that she must be having a lurid nightmare. Several times she whimpered dismally, and once or twice she screamed wordlessly and bloodcurdlingly, reaching out for something that was not there. I wondered at the agony apparent in her usually blissful form. Once or twice, I thought I heard my name, cringing at the pain in which she'd called it. But her voice was muffled by her pillow then, and I wasn't sure.

* * *

The morning that Tanya was to arrive, I waited patiently in the kitchen for a much more prolonged time then usual. When Bella finally stumbled endearingly down the stairs, she looked unbelievably and astoundingly beautiful, not that she probably thought so.

I watched her unsteadily as she poured her cereal with shaking hands. She didn't fail to notice me staring. "What?"

I limbered closer to her small form, my arms outstretched wistfully, wondering how she would react. When she didn't shriek horrendously in protest, I sat down, pulling her unto my lap, and whispered into her hair, "You were screaming in your sleep." It had horrified me at how much pain she had been in, in that simple state of dreaming, her inert state of usually peaceful inactivity. She shuddered, presumably at the memory, and I regretted what I had confided instantly.

"It's going to be _fine_, Bella." I promised in an undertone. I hoped it would. I didn't want to disconcert Bella in the least. My useless heart soared as she leaned her warm body into my icy one, lying delicately against my impenetrable skin. I did not want to move, but the familiar ache of only being able to be this close to Bella started to pulse in on me predictably, bringing with it the depression of knowing that she was giving up everything to be with me. I had to push her away. Thankfully, the phone rang at that moment, covering my venerability. She thought I was so much more resilient than I really was. It was Carlisle on the phone, speaking in careful tones.

"Edward, Alice saw Tanya arriving in about an hour. I think you and Bella should come back now. You don't want to … offend our guest." I understood what he meant. Our relationship with the Denali Coven had been under tension since we were attacked by newborn vampires earlier this summer. We had refused to let them break the treaty and exact revenge on the werewolves. It wasn't the dogs' faults that Laurent had tried to kill Bella. I shuddered to think of what would have happened if those loathsome wolves hadn't protected her. I was actually _grateful_ to Jacob Black for that one.

I reached out serenely to take Bella's hand in mine, just to assure myself that she was quite safe. She looked up suspiciously, so I clarified my thoughts: "She's coming."

I ran (at a human's pace, impossibly sluggish) to the Volvo before Bella could bring up another stubborn protest. She kept quite still as we flew out of the driveway, and she stayed silent the entire trip, which was both very unlike Bella, and also perplexing to the extreme for me, since I could not tell what she was thinking, even by her expressions. Bella always managed to surprise me, somehow.

* * *

I stood stock still, waiting for Tanya to approach. I felt Bella trembling slightly in nervousness next to me, and watched as she grasped my hand tighter at the sound of the soft knock on the door.

I had heard Tanya's approach before any of the others – except maybe Alice, of course –and I heard their surprised thoughts when Tanya stood, silent and impatient, just outside the door. Alice had run to get it, having sensed that Tanya would knock soon.

I was exceedingly unsurprised as Tanya strode into the room. She glanced smilingly at everyone, noting how good-looking Emmett and Jasper were, saying a longingly uncomfortable hello to me in her mind, before her eyes rested on Bella. _So _this _is the inconsequential human girl. Edward, I just don't understand you at all._

She continued to beam graciously at everyone, until her eyes met mine. She seemed to be trying to read _my _mind, knowing that I could read hers. _So, you fell in love with a human, huh? No vampire good enough for you? Come on, Edward, you could do so much better than that. This is just infatuation. You don't even need someone like her. _I stiffened, drawing myself up to full height, and leered at her for just a moment. I didn't want her to insult my Bella, whether external or internal. She watched my face carefully in response to her thoughts, as if daring me to call her on it, and said "Hello, Edward." I felt Bella stiffen inexplicably next to me at Tanya's voice, and wondered why she felt threatened. Tanya was only a _friend, _and just barely that, now that she was launching insults at my precious fiancée in her mind.

I watched, irate, as Esme greeted Tanya with her usual hug, still thinking of how lovely it was to see one of our old friends, and as Alice approached her to kiss her on the cheek in welcome, though her thoughts were not as accepting of Tanya as her actions. _Edward, while you were gone, I saw what Tanya is going to be up to._ I relaxed some, knowing that Alice could thwart her easily, and that she would do everything in her power to make sure that the wedding went smoothly. I inched forward reluctantly, knowing I had to shake Tanya's hand like a gentleman, and when I got just close enough so that I could communicate the tedious message without Bella overhearing, I snarled, "Be nice to Bella." I could hear Emmett's thoughts at my tone, and knew that he winked at Bella to communicate to her not to worry. I also heard Rosalie's irked mind at this gesture, and smirked.

"Well, Tanya," Carlisle smiled, trying to ease the tension that had mounted to almost tangible in the thick air, "Welcome to our home … This is Bella." I watched him gesture toward her. Tanya internally scoffed at her ordinariness. _She's really small and pathetic-looking, isn't she? Brown hair, brown eyes, _widow's _peak! It's almost sad, Edward. _In a flash, I ran to stand behind Bella, my arms around her protectively, lovingly. Tanya could think what she wanted. Bella was beautiful, and perfect in all her still-human glory. I threw Tanya a haunting look as I sensed Bella's obvious discomfort. Jasper looked at me inquiringly, wondering whether or not he should calm down the room, and I nodded once. Bella could use a healthy dose of tranquility. I felt her breathing slow – she had been on the edge of hyperventilation before – and I smiled thankfully at Jasper. I gave Tanya another warning look, and she held my gaze, her expression grave.

_I'm sorry Edward. _I knew she was lying. _I just … felt oddly jealous of that – _I narrowed my eyes warningly – _Of Bella. She has you. I wanted you, remember? I just can't understand how you would refuse me, and then become adjacent to some human girl. I suppose, when she becomes one of _us_, she'll be okay … I really am sorry, Edward. _Her eyes were bright and honest, but I didn't want to believe her. Believing her would mean believing that she was still in love with me, and that she had decided to take her frustration of that unrequited love out on Bella. I was abruptly tired of this outward show of hospitableness.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Everything here on out is in Bella's point of view unless otherwise stated. That is to say - I don't plan on changing the point of view from Bella's anymore, but you never know ...


	9. Feeling Blue

**Author's Note:** I'm so very sorry about the unbelievably long delay, but writer's block attacked me, and I wasn't cured of it until I had a weird dream about the Cullens all switching places, which gave me an idea that I couldn't NOT write down. Haha, this chapter isn't it, but it's a start. Happy "It-was-Canada-Day-Yesterday" and Happy "It-will-be-the-Fourth-Of-July" :)

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

Chapter Nine.

'**Feeling Blue'**

I watched tentatively as the Cullens all gathered round in their spacious living room, some sitting comfortably, others – namely Alice, Carlisle, Edward and I – stood cautiously around the outer fringes of the group. Tanya, _slim, athletic, perfect_ Tanya, was at the center of attention. I realized with a twinge of jealousy and awe that she was everything I wasn't. I leaned into Edward unnecessarily – he was already positioned half in front of me in a protective way, as if Tanya was waiting to shoot me at the next possible moment.

All of the Cullens were smiling pleasantly at Tanya – everyone except Alice, who was staring at _me_ oddly. I met her gaze and she looked away. My intuition flickered immediately: something was wrong. And I doubted Edward would elaborate. As if I wasn't already on edge around Tanya. Was fate dead set against Edward and I ever having a happy ending? It seemed to me that every time we were finally lighthearted about being together, someone was trying to kill me, or Edward was trying to kill himself, or the Cullen's were under attack, or someone else who wanted Edward showed up. It was all so exasperating.

"It's nice to have you join us – it's been a while since we've seen each other," Carlisle was addressing Tanya again, his tone conversational, but it wasn't hard to tell that he was trying to break through the tension that had suddenly mounted to tangible in the air.

Tanya grinned entusiastically, her full red lips parting to reveal unbelievably magnificent white teeth. "Yes. It's been too long. We were very … _elated_ to know that you managed to protect yourselves from the newborns. We were so sorry that we couldn't help. But Irina … Well, you understand, I'm sure. No one thinks the wolves should go unpunished."

"That bastard," Edward snarled suddenly, making me jump, "_Laurent,"_ - His voice was dripping with sarcasm as he said the name – "Was trying to kill Bella. The wolves protected her, like they were supposed to. He was a monster."

"Edward!" Esme glared at Edward, reprimanding his outburst. Edward sighed.

I glanced up at Edward's face just as Tanya shot a look at me. I didn't need Edward's power to know what she was thinking – it was probably something along the lines of:_ So that's why they wouldn't let us kill the werewolves. They are indebted because of their little pet._ I could almost feel her eyes burning holes into my head, and I cringed out of the way. That got Edward's attention. He smiled half-heartedly at me, as if he didn't want to be here anymore than I did. I tried to calm down.

"I have to admit, I was a little surprised to hear you were coming to the wedding after that. I'd hoped we hadn't strained our friendship with you, but we did think it was a little odd that you were planning on attending alone…" Carlisle struggled on, trying to ignore what was happening. I admired his stubborn labor for peace.

"Er … yes, well, we did feel _awful_ about leaving you to defend yourselves alone -" She answered. I elbowed Edward as I sensed he was about to speak, and hoped that he'd felt it a little. "And we were all very relieved you'd suffered no casualties. You really should tell me how you did that, by the way…" Carlisle cleared his throat awkwardly. "So I decided we owed you a break. We shouldn't let centuries of friendship get lost because of one little problem. Unfortunately, Carmen and Eleazar are away, and Kate had other obligations, though she sends you her love and best wishes." Tanya smirked in mine and Edward's direction.

"And Irina is still upset with us." Esme coaxed softly. Tanya nodded, her expression sympathetic. Rosalie snorted behind me.

"Well, we're certainly happy to have you staying with us. Having an extra pair of hands around to help will certainly help Alice; she's been going all out for this event, almost as if it were her own wedding." Carlisle laughed. Alice barely managed a smile. Carlisle's statement made me irritated – Alice was going "all out" again? Oh, boy.

"So ... this is the girl who runs with werewolves?" Tanya turned to me, obviously curious. I felt unbearably guilty.

"Not anymore ... Jake ran to Northern Canada." I informed her sadly. The oddest expression crossed her face. It was - almost smug.

"Well, I should get Bella home now, Charlie will be looking for her." Edward mumbled after a slight pause. I gazed out the windows – it was close to getting dark. I'd probably missed dinner. Charlie wouldn't be too happy about that.

Tanya stepped forward to shake my hand before we left. Her gaze was shockingly angry, though her tone and grip were calm. I felt like recoiling desperately away from her, but I somehow managed to stand my ground. "Nice meeting you, Bella." She said indifferently. I nodded, not trusting my voice.

I was still feeling shaky as we left, and I stumbled on the way out the door. I was unable to catch myself, and I would've fallen completely if Edward hadn't held me up. Emmett's amused guffaws continued behind us until we were nearly out of sight.

* * *

Charlie was waiting for me in the kitchen when I got home. He seemed both resigned and angry.

"Where were you!" He demanded, though he already knew the answer.

"I was at the Cullens'. Their cousin came all the way from Alaska to attend the wedding, and I hadn't met her yet." That was mostly the truth. It still pained me to lie to Charlie, even if I _did_ have a good reason. The fact that the lies were becoming more and more natural these days just scared me more.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "All the way from Alaska? Really?" I turned away from him to roll my eyes at the wall. Did someone flying from so far away for a wedding really surprise him after all this time with the Cullens and their huge house, flashy cars and excess money?

Charlie seemed to catch the stupidity in what he was saying, because his face went red and he nodded. "I see … and have you told Renée about your _plans_?" I couldn't help but notice that, like me, he still danced around using the word "engagement". I shrugged indifferently.

"I was … planning on doing that tomorrow … with Edward there …" I was grasping at straws. T_here should be some law about these wedding plans, _I thought, _where everyone just realizes you're getting married on their own, and they accept it. _

Charlie smiled. "Oh." He patted the chair next to his, and I sat down obediently. "Bella, I know you'd be gone anyway … to university," Charlie's smile grew into a ferocious grin that reduced his eyes to crinkly stars, "and I really should've seen this coming, anyway, but I feel … well, it's just going to be hard to say goodbye." He was no longer looking at me; his awkwardness with showing emotion had him staring at the kitchen tile under his feet. I thought I may have seen a tear fall into his lap, but I could've been imagining things through the haze that had settled in my brain. I knew that this would have to happen sooner or later, but it was still heartbreaking. I was sent deeper into my spiral of despair when I realized I didn't know when I would next see Charlie, or Renée, or if I would ever even see Jacob again.

I reached out to pat Charlie's shoulder. "It'll be fine, Ch-Dad." I tried to smile convincingly. "We'll only be away for a few months, and then we have the whole summer …" I broke off. Lying deepens the hurt, sometimes. I knew I would miss my family excruciatingly, but I had already accepted that. This didn't change a thing. "You know it's not _really _goodbye." I paused, "What brought all this on, anyway?"

Charlie looked up, smiling sheepishly. "Well … you weren't here for dinner, and I had to make my own, and I realized how much of a help you really are, Bella. I don't know what I'm going to do when you're gone."

I would've said something then, would've laughed or lied or told him I'd send him a year's supply of sandwiches from university, but he walked into the living room to catch the game, leaving me alone in stunned silence. I really would miss Charlie. But at least I wouldn't be constantly putting him in danger anymore.

As I climbed the stairs to my bedroom, my feet felt like lead. I was imminently exhausted – It took most of my strength to get myself into the bathroom to get ready for bed. My head was swarmed with thoughts of leaving everyone behind, and of Tanya. I wasn't an idiot: I could tell there was something fishy going on between her and Edward. I hoped they secretly loathed each other, though a rational little voice in my head told me I was probably wrong.

I must have started to fall asleep right in the small hallway before my room, because the next thing I knew, I was in Edward's arms, and I felt a faint rocking motion, as if he was walking.

"Edward?"

"Shh. Sleep, Bella."

I was asleep before he reached the bed. My thoughts converged in on me in a wild jumble, and that was the first night I dreamed terrible dreams of outrageously beautiful, ferocious vampires pulling apart helpless, shaggy werewolves.


	10. Bella's Dream

**Author's Note:** Just a little inside look at Bella's dream ... Most of it is her imagination getting carried away, but there is a little bit of -I think - unobvious foreshadowing in here, if you can find it ...

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

Chapter Ten.

**'Bella's Dream' **

I watched helplessly as Tanya and the four other shadowy, faceless vampires snarled, growled, and crouched low over the werewolves. The werewolves had put up a good fight, in the beginning, but now Tanya's coven was ripping and tearing into them, and occasionally, a helpless wolf would let out a frighteningly ominous whimper.

Out of nowhere, a familiar, calming, wonderfully husky voice jeered at me. "You don't honestly think we're that weak, do you?" Jacob scoffed. I turned to him, about to beg and plead for him not to enter the fray, but he was already gone. The five vampires were converging over him, and he was in his wolf form, snapping at them in vain. I watched in horror as my Jacob was slowly ripped apart.

Tanya seemed to notice my gaze and beamed at me. I was shocked, until I realized it wasn't _me _she was smiling at. Out of the abyss behind me strode Edward, tall and magnificently handsome as ever, and he wandered over to the others, carefully avoiding the werewolf carcasses with a look of pure disgust on his face.

"Edward!" Gushed Tanya, launching herself at him with enthusiasm. I waited for him to turn away from her, to tell her he didn't want her, but he didn't. He let her settle into his arms and attack his face with kisses. It wasn't until he bent down to kiss her back that I started to scream. Why was she doing this? Why was he doing this? Why were they doing this? I was RIGHT HERE.

They continued to ignore me, and everything else – the rest of the coven, and the werewolves – seemed to dissolve into the abyss. Edward and Tanya just kept kissing right in front of me.

I heard my heart break audibly when Edward took Tanya's hand and whispered, "So you finally got rid of Jacob Black. Good job, _Bella_."

* * *

**Author's Note: **So yeah, this was a little strange. Poor Bella. But I have to plant the idea of what's going to happen. No, this dream is not going to happen (I like Jake a little, I wouldn't kill him ... can't stand Sam, but still... and Edward would never mistake Tanya for Bella in reality) but something like this might. You're confused now, aren't you? You'll see.


	11. All Hell Is Breaking Loose

**Author's Note:** It took me so long to gather an idea of how this story was going to end that I considered just deleting it, and giving up. I'm not even sure if I want to continue now, though stopping would be like surrendering a newborn child, and I don't want to give up my metaphoric baby! This story was easier to write when I was writing on spur-of-the-moment reflexes. Anyway, here it is. Read and Review! :)

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

Chapter Eleven.

'**All Hell is Breaking Loose / Conspiracy' **

I had endured Tanya for an entire week. An entire week of her inconspicuous remarks that only I seemed to take offense to, an entire week of her finding any reason to touch Edward, or laugh at a memory I knew nothing about, an entire week of suggesting we do things that only vampires could do.

"Oh." She'd said in false astonishment when Emmett had laughed at her suggestion of a competition involving who could hold their breath the longest (apparently Emmett's record was six days – everyone else got too uncomfortable), because I couldn't take part in it. "I forgot that humans weren't as … fun."

Emmett raised his eyebrows at me.

Alice and I were in her room now, Alice having dragged me along to settle back into wedding plans, and to escape Tanya's fresh attempts at human exploitation. I grumbled and complained about her including me, but she insisted that I would appreciate having a say in the way my wedding turned out later.

"Yeah, maybe in two hundred years."I'd replied in an undertone.

"Trust me, Bella. You're opinion is important. Besides, Edward's giving his advice." She said. That was news to me.

I was incredibly reluctant to be anywhere that Edward was not lately – I couldn't trust Tanya as far as I could throw her. Which, considering she was an indestructible vampire, wasn't very far at all. So, needless to say, I had followed Alice to her room with poor grace. (Much to Tanya's pleasure, I'm sure.)

We were pouring over all the little wedding details (Alice wanted to keep the big parts of the wedding a secret, and I wondered briefly what she must usually concentrate on with Edward around to keep him from finding out) like my hair, and whether or not the wedding should be in the day or night. After every tiny detail we changed, Alice peered into the future to be sure that the wedding was still going to be okay.

"Great!" She cried after we'd decided to have lilies instead of orchids as the centerpieces – "It's going to be even better, because now Ben won't get sick and have to leave!" I tried to sound enthusiastic, too, but Alice wasn't an idiot. She knew I was distracted – more than I usually was when I was forced to make important decisions about things I wished were over already.

"Bella," She scolded, "_Try _to pay attention, please. For me?" She gave me her best puppy-dog faced pout. I sighed.

"Alice. I can't concentrate. Tanya is …" I looked around the room wildly, wondering where she could be, and if she could hear me from where she was.

"Out with Rosalie." Alice finished my statement for me, though that wasn't exactly where I was going. I relaxed gratefully.

"She really doesn't like me, huh?" I said lightly, feigning nonchalance.

Alice studied my face for a moment before she admitted it. "That's not it. She's just … _surprised_ that one of our kind fell in love with one of your kind." I knew she was trying to be nice about the fact that Tanya disliked me, but I felt worse knowing that Alice, who never hid anything from me, and who was the one who revealed the mechanics of vampirism to me when Edward had refused too, was siding with Edward for once and trying to keep me in the dark. I gave her a dark look.

"Alice." I said, in a voice I hoped was ringing with severity, "What's going on?"

She was suddenly busy with papers and sketches, examples of fabrics, and RSVPS. "Look, Bella." She said, holding out a slip of paper that had been circled and returned, "Mike's coming! Isn't that great? Edward won't like it of course, and Mike probably won't be a happy camper, but who would miss out on one of your friend's weddings – especially when it's a special event, which is definitely something this town never has." So she was stalling. Two could play at this game.

"Come on, Alice, when have _I _ever kept anything from _you_? Best friends tell each other these things, you know. It's not fair to just let me waltz in here and become one of your 'family members' with you keeping huge secrets from me." I copied her pout as best I could and internally cursed my eyes for not being able to dazzle people like Edward's could.

Alice seemed to be contemplating the future for a moment before she answered, "Tanya is here to try and break you and Edward up. She's always had a 'thing' for Edward, but he's never liked her – honest. He doesn't want her here, but their coven is important to us, they are the only other coven with our lifestyle, after all. We have to keep all the ties we can, or we could be facing disastrous consequences -" She tapped her temple, emphasizing that she knew what she was talking about. "Tanya's just being rude and childish lately, but according to what I see, nothing's changing. If I see something change, I'll let you know, and you can just … skip off to Vegas or something. Okay? So don't worry, Bella." Then, she went back to choosing menus as if she hadn't just unloaded a potentially life changing secret on me.

I shook my head to clear it. "What?"

Alice looked up. "I'm sorry?"

"She … _She still loves Edward_? She's going to break us up?" My throat was closing in on me – my voice was hoarse and I couldn't breathe. I was having an allergic reaction to Tanya, I was sure.

Alice gave me a sympathetic look and wrapped her ice cold marble arms around me. "I said _trying._ You and Edward are _fine_. When I see the future, I still see you guys happily married, and I still see the wedding going smoothly… And, I will know I will soon see you thanking me for making it perfect!" She gave me a falsely severe warning look in a plain attempt at distraction. I titled my head pointedly, and Alice sighed. "If you don't believe me, you'll just have to talk to Edward."

"Bella …" Edward was almost instantaneously behind me. He had heard Alice's thoughts.

"Hey! I didn't say she could talk to you right now! What about the wedding plans? What about the wedding _dress_! Get out! Get out!" Alice threw the entire weight of her petite body against Edward's tall, sturdy frame with a mighty crash that shook the room, knocking RSVPs and decal examples unto the floor. Edward chuckled.

"I won't look at the dress."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

I looked warily from one to the other as they acted so incredibly _normal. _I was panicking! Edward caught sight of my grief-stricken face and reached out for my hand. He kissed it reassuringly. "I would never leave you, please believe me, Bella. Tanya isn't going to change anything." He met my gaze with cautious topaz eyes. They smoldered at me – almost convincingly – willing me to trust him. I nodded mutely. It wasn't _him _that I didn't trust, anyway.

"Are we okay then, Alice?" He turned back to gaze at his sister. But Alice had taken on the far away look that I knew too well. Edward froze next to me, obviously seeing what she was seeing.

"NO!"

I jumped – Edward's unexpected roar had frightened me. He was still looking at Alice with piercing, livid eyes. I tried very hard to understand what was going on; I came up with nothing.

Finally, Alice looked up at me, she seemed worried and on edge. "Bella – "

"Don't." Edward shot her a warning glance. Again, I got the feeling that things were being edited for my "safety". I turned to demand that Edward tell me what was happening, but I was suddenly in his arms, and all at once we were flying down the stairs toward the bright, wide living room in a flurry of panicked incredulity.

The rest of the Cullens were already there – Edward's exclamation had tipped them off to something happening. I looked around at each frightened face in turn. Esme looked beside herself with distress, Carlisle was calm as always, but his eyes were wide and stressed, Jasper was searching each face, attempting to calm the room, while grasping Alice's shaking hand firmly, and Emmett was staring at Edward with a surprised and nervous look, while subconsciously cracking his knuckles, dreaming of a fight. Edward was holding me, his face forced into its clean, remote mask.

"What's going on, Edward?" Carlisle asked shakily. I struggled in Edward's grasp – I wanted to get down, but he held fast and refused to let go of me.

"Where's Tanya?" Edward snapped. All five other Cullens jumped, startled – Alice gave Edward a look of pure shock, and the other Cullens looked taken aback.

"She's still shopping with Rosalie." Emmett offered. Edward opened his mouth to speak again, but Alice decided he couldn't be trusted to hold his temper and jumped in to finish the story without him.

"She's about to get a phone call from Denali – it seems that Kate's 'other obligations' were tracking down a werewolf that Tanya had informed her was near Denali." All six pairs of eyes were focused on me now. I felt a shudder rock my body.

"Jake!" I cried, not able to hold in the painful thoughts and memories that I had been repressing so often as of late.

"It seems that when Bella informed her of our _dear_ Jacob's location, Tanya thought it would be prudent to call Kate and Irina with the information." Edward hissed through his teeth. "Kate may have found him by now – they are planning on holding him hostage to start an all-out vampire vs. werewolf war; thus breaking the treaty and getting their revenge. I almost want to side with the werewolves. _Centuries of friendship_, yeah right, then suddenly they're using us…" Edward's voice had turned mocking.

The room was filled with strange screeching noises that I realized came from me – yet I couldn't stop them. The loud, anxious sobs rocked my entire body. I caught sight of Esme's tortured expression and Emmett's surprised glance – I had never broken down in front of them before.

"Edward, set her down… Maybe we should bring her home." I could barely hear Jasper's strained whisper of worry at my reaction over my own heaving sobs. He must be feeling on the edge of hysterics, too. The thought sent a hysterical giggle through the weeping.

"No!" I protested loudly, struggling even further in Edward's strong stone grip. It was a losing battle.

"Bella, Calm down. We will make everything right – don't we always?" Edward's calming, seductive voice was in my ear, and his cool, luscious breath was tickling my ear drums. I gave up struggling, but couldn't stifle the hysteria that was overwhelming me.

Carlisle still seemed confused. "Are you sure about this? It's quite farfetched, I must admit," He murmured uncertainly, looking from Alice to Edward. "It just doesn't sound like something they would do…"

"Well, I guess we know who to blame, then." Edward snarled ferociously, barely able to rein-in his anger. "_Laurent._"

"Too bad he's already dead." Emmett half-whined, half growled, "I would've so enjoyed tearing him apart…" Carlisle gave Emmett a reproachful look. He detested violence in all its forms, deserved or not.

It was a struggle to keep my thoughts on the present. My mind kept straying to my horrible nightmare of Edward and Tanya kissing; Jake being torn apart… Jake was being hunted. Jake was being held hostage by revenge driven vampires. War. Edward. Tanya. Danger.

Everything became a distant, echo-ey blur: I somehow went from being cradled in Edward's marble arms to being seated gently on the couch; he had surrendered me to Esme, who tried to quiet my sobbing with her arms around me, rocking me like a newborn child. Then, someone suggested appealing to the werewolves before Tanya could pass on her message from Denali, and I was suddenly being carried somewhere; I recognized the swaying motion of a lithe vampire stride.

It surprised me greatly when the Volvo stopped – when had I gotten into the car? – And Edward was talking to me, slowly and delicately, as if I were mentally ill.

"Bella, love? Are you alright?" His attractive, perfect voice was soothing, but I still couldn't force my own voice out of my throat, all that came out in response was a strangled sort of gasp. His ghostly white, icy hands grasped mine.

"Jacob?" I managed to croak. Something flickered quickly across his face. Pain? Panic? And then suddenly, I was out of the car, standing in the middle of the baseball clearing. Edward's arms were around me, and all the other Cullen's – minus Rosalie, who I gathered must've still been away with Tanya – were standing in a wary formation around us. One hard look at the far end of the clearing told me all that I needed to know - we were meeting with the wolves. How long _had _I been out of it? When had the pack been contacted?

Sam stepped forward hesitantly, without changing from his wolf form, gazing intently at Carlisle, with his glistening, sharp teeth exposed just slightly. Emmett seemed restless; it was obviously hard for him to restrain himself in all this excitement. I whimpered helplessly at the tense atmosphere.

Carlisle stepped forward to explain the situation to the wolves. He cleared his throat awkwardly, making eye contact with each of the wolves in turn, (this seemed to make all of them flinch anxiously.) and then started to speak. "We …" He gestured to the Cullens, Alice and Edward especially, "Have just received word, via Alice's powers, that a vampire coven from the North, one that was involved with Laurent, a vampire you killed last year…" – Emmett cleared his throat significantly; Esme shot him a furtive look – "Have been alerted to the presence of Jacob Black in their territory." I was eternally grateful to Carlisle that my name had not come up – I was already feeling guilty without having the pack aim their furious glares my way.

None of the werewolves seemed to realize the danger Jacob was in. Sam looked startled, at the very least (It was hard to tell, seeing as he was in wolf form.) I sneaked a look at Edward, who was half smug, half wary, maintaining eye contact with Seth. He sensed me watching at smiled half-heartedly at me, without any real feeling.

"They don't understand." He said, both to me, and to the others. Carlisle looked almost reluctant to go on.

"One of these vampires was … romantically involved with Laurent, and they have already asked our permission to gain revenge, and therefore break our treaty, once before. Our refusal spurned their hatred, it seems. Now, they have taken it upon themselves to start trouble. If they find Jacob, they will hold him hostage until they persuade you to fight them."

There was a very apparent ruffle and murmur of excitement and indignation flowing through the crowd of werewolves on the other side of the field at Carlisle's words. Sam snarled. Edward shifted next to me edgily. I waited with baited breath for Sam's reply.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry if there are any minor mistakes in grammar or spelling ... It's really late and I'm finding it hard to concentrate on editing, my eyelids are drooping, I swear. Maybe I'll get a beta reader ... usually I'm good at finding mistakes, but I'm in a bit of a hurry to finish and go to bed. Let me know if you find anything. Also, let me know what you think of the story so far? Good? Bad? Rushy? Lame? I want to know!


	12. Stuck

**Author's Note:** I was really busy today ... but since I got a few more reviews and I one of you faithful readers went as far as to nominate me for a Twilight Fanfcition Award, I decided to scrammble together a little something and update sooner than planned.

It's a strictly filler chapter, I don't want to rush into the end, and I want to describe the death of Bella's grand truck.

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

Chapter Twelve.

'**Stuck' **

"We will, of course, do everything in our power to stop a war from ensuing." Carlisle's clear voice rang with authority as he courageously kept eye contact with Sam. I flinched as the pack, as one, seemed to aim daggers of angry, non-blinking stares in my direction. Did they know what I had accidentally done, that it was _me_ who had disclosed Jake's location to Tanya? That it was _me_ who had put him in mortal danger, put the pack in danger, put the Cullen's in a very compromising position?

Edward turned his attention back to us again. "They want to know which side we will be fighting on _when_ the fight breaks out." He snarled, looking offended. "They wish to know – in case they have to break the treaty right now."

At his words, I saw the Paul wolf paw at the ground restlessly. A surge of hate bubbled over inside me. Jacob never would've reacted like that – after all the Cullens and the pack had been through? Would they never work out their differences?

"I'm afraid you misunderstand me, Sam." Carlisle said coldly. He didn't sound like the Carlisle that I knew anymore, he sounded like he wanted the pack to get one thing _very _clear. "We will do what we can to help – by stopping the other coven, and by helping ensure the safety of young Jacob. We will _not _be joining in the fight, if one breaks out."

Emmett looked positively crestfallen.

Simultaneous with Carlisle's words were several outbursts from the Cullens, and a collective growl from the wolves.

"What are you talking about? We should rip them to shreds!"

"Look at them – staring at us. I _can not_ believe we're even sinking to their level like this!"

"I still can't see what's going to happen!"

"Shh! Carlisle, this can't go smoothly, we're stuck no matter what happens…"

"Everyone calm down! You're making me crazy!"

"_Let's just kill 'em…"_

"EMMETT!" I weaved my voice in unison with everyone else's; shooting Emmett reproachful looks as he cracked his knuckles gleefully. I felt as if the gravity around me had suddenly become much stronger; tears swam into my eyes and it was a physical struggle to remain upright – the earth was pulling me down, so that I was almost hunched over, breaking into sweat from trying not to drop to my knees. I felt so trapped now, this was all my fault...

Edward's strong ice statue arms were suddenly around my waist, holding me upright. I turned to bury my face into his chest and let him hold up most of my weight gratefully.

"What's happening?" I gasped. Everything felt so out of control – no matter what happened, the Cullens would come off worse – they would either have to fight the Denali Coven to stop them from attacking the werewolves and to save Jacob, OR they would have to fight the werewolves with the Denali coven, and the treaty would be broken, and they would be forced to leave Forks forever. Either way, a war was breaking out. I just wanted to **scream** so badly that I was sure I would collapse.

* * *

I sat in my truck, contemplating what I was about to do. I was so sure it would solve everything if I just went to La Push. If I just talked to Sam and the others, maybe I could persuade them that fighting wasn't right, that they shouldn't break the treaty, that the Cullen's were trustworthy …

And so, with all of my headstrong glory, I made up my mind to fix the mess I'd made. I turned the key in the ignition eagerly. Nothing happened. _What?_ I turned the key again. A few splutters, and then … nothing. One last try … still no go.

"Oh, Come _on_!" I cried angrily, beating my hand off the steering wheel. A soft chuckle came from beside me. I whirled around, eyes wide. "Edward! What are you doing here?"

"Alice." He said simply. Sometimes her gift was annoying. He surveyed my expression with amusement before turning his attention to the truck. "Looks like your truck has finally roared its last roar." He laughed smugly. I let my head drop unto the steering wheel. "Don't worry, Bella. Alice saw this happening this morning." He continued gleefully. "That's why I got you a new car – if you promise not to go down to the reserve in it." His tone had a slight edge to it – I was not required to promise, I knew, because he would stop me from going to La Push anyway.

I lifted my eyebrow suspiciously at him. _How had he gotten me a new car already?_ Unless it was only a rusty second hand one … But no, I knew better than to get my hopes up that Edward hadn't splurged on a super sleek, fast, attention grabbing car. "Ostentatious", as he'd once put it.

My suspicions were confirmed as soon as Edward helped me out of my dead truck – there in the driveway, previously shielded from sight by a thin veil of fog, was the car. If it even was a car. To me, it looked like a death trap. Like a highly dangerous piece of machinery that was not only guaranteed to turn me into the world's worst driver, but it was a shiny, highly fancy piece of weaponry that would attract stares like magnets. I gulped, gazing back at my trusty old truck longingly.

This new car was a dark silver colour, with windows tinted extremely black – there was no way anyone would be able to see in it. It was very shiny and extremely fast-looking, the most ostentatious car since Rosalie's BMW. I sighed.

Edward raised his eyebrows at my expression. "It's a Mercedes Guardian. And it's _fine_, Bella." He said sternly, rolling his eyes. "It's only for until you've changed into a vampire, anyway." I stared at him skeptically, not wanting to believe it.

"There's _another _one?" Could cars come any worse than this? If it was a bright yellow convertible limousine or something, I would scream.

"Yes." He replied, smiling widely. "It's a _much_ better one, I must say…"

I leaned forward apprehensively to run my reluctant fingers over the top of my -gulp- car. "There's no way Charlie can know you bought me this. If people see me in this – Edward, do _I _even want to know what this cost? Where am I going to put it, anyway? I can't drive this! I'd probably cause an accident in something that runs so smoothly after using that truck for so long…" I garbled out an excuse in a frenzied rush.

Edward rolled his eyes again, placing a hand on my shoulder comfortingly. "Clam down, Bella. I'll keep it at my house for now, if I must. But you will want to drive again, eventually, you know." He said knowingly. I shuddered at the thought of driving that car. "Trust me."

"I'll just never go into town. Who needs – food and clothes anyway, right?" I muttered. Edward laughed loudly.

"Don't worry so much, Bella. It'll be fine."

I wondered if he knew what an imposibility he'd just promised me.


	13. Bend, Don't Break

**Author's Note: **Woot! Longest chapter ever! ... only because I'm stalling the ending. he he. Still got fourteen days to finish. Let's meet the Denali coven ...

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen:

'**Bend, Don't Break**'

"Bella, you have to try on your wedding dress," Said a beautiful ringing voice in a bored tone. Rosalie. She was being forced into this, I knew, while the others took it in turns to let Tanya know what they thought of her. She was being civil to me, though, and for that I was grateful. At least _Rosalie_ could hear what was going on in the living room. My weak human senses caught nothing.

We both wore matching scowls as I slipped into my beautiful Anne of Green Gables-esque wedding gown. It wasn't just gorgeous – it was also made of smooth, slightly sparkling material that was irresistibly comfortable. I made a mental note to thank Alice later.

Rosalie looked me up and down appraisingly, frowning, and I was glad I couldn't hear what she was thinking. She motioned for me to turn around, and I obliged – tipping precariously to one side as I did so. Rosalie snickered softly, steadying me with her rock hard forearm.

"It's a bit long." She noted, reaching down to pull the hem off the floor a few inches. "You'll probably trip over it. Esme will have to raise it." She ran her long fingers over the lace at the bottom, her expression impassive. Then, she moved her arm up to gently tugged on the sleeves, pulling them further out on my shoulders. "The sleeves need to be widened." She continued looking me over critically, though at least not menacingly, but still making me feel like a rotten vegetable on display next to a beautiful, juicy red apple. I blushed deeply as I thought of how I must look in Rosalie's eyes – a nuisance that would never compare to her – and she looked up. "Bella," She stated irritably, her fingers pinching in the sides of the waist of my dress. "Please try to keep the blood flow down a little, won't you? I have great restraint, I must admit, but I'm not used to being this close to you."

I nodded sheepishly.

Rosalie took one more lingering look at me before turning away abruptly, her face grim. "That's all I can do." She said simply, "You'll just have to wear it as it is, I guess." She said this with a sigh, as if me in that dress was the worst idea anyone had ever had. Feeling mortally wounded and self conscious, I turned (slowly, this time) to gaze at myself in the mirror. I didn't think it looked so bad.

On the contrary, the first thought that came into my head was that I could kiss Alice for being such a genius. The dress was the perfect shade to match my skin tone, offsetting my blandness and making me look as though I had at least a little bit of healthy colour. Rosalie was right about the sleeves, they were a little close on my wide shoulders – but other than that, it was almost absolutely perfect. My long dark hair washed over the dress in mesmerizing contrast, and the corset part of the dress ran down to blend seamlessly with the flowing skirt where they met at my waist, making me seem taller. I felt a smile escape my lips. "I love it." I whispered to myself. Rosalie smirked behind me.

"Well – "

But I never got to hear what I was sure would've been a vicious insult, because at that moment, Esme and Alice rushed into the room, both of them frowning, their brows scrunched in irritation. Esme smiled when she saw me.

"Oh, Bella, you look lovely."

Alice ran forward to inspect the dress, too. "It's perfect for you, Bella." She gushed excitedly, and I could tell it took all of her restraint not to start jumping up and down. "You're going to look amazing in the wedding."

I would've smiled, or blushed, or let their praise affect me at all, but I didn't. My mind was suddenly preoccupied by the fact that the Cullen's "meeting" with Tanya was over, and I wanted to know, immediately, how it had gone. My thoughts were with Jake, and Edward, and the fate of the Cullens, and the treaty, and the Denali coven.

"What's happening?" I asked the three of them eagerly. Alice, Esme and Rosalie exchanged significant dark looks. Rosalie scowl was even more pronounced, her jaw set angrily. I knew at once it couldn't be good news.

"Bella, we're going to work it all out." Esme promised me soothingly, reaching out as if to put a hand on my shoulder comfortingly. I backed away slightly.

A horrible thought had just occurred to me, rather like I had been dancing in the path of a train that had finally appeared and crushed me flat. The hope drained out me, along with the colour in my face, and I squeaky voice that bore almost no resemblance to mine at all whispered: "Charlie."

The three Cullen women did not look surprised to hear me say this; in fact, they looked significantly relieved that I had finally caught on to the most important aspect of the impending war. "If the treaty breaks, you'll – I'll – we'll never be able to come back here again. I'll never be able to visit Charlie. Or Angela." _Or Jake_. It was as if one the vampires in front of me had leapt forward and bitten me savagely – searing, burning agony was suddenly spreading throughout my veins, and I had to struggle madly to fight of the hysteria that threatened, looming over me, hopelessness in its wake. If the Cullens had been unsuccessful in convincing Tanya to call everything off, they would fight, and if the treaty was broken, I was doomed.

I changed and exited the room in a daze – it was as if a depressed fog had settled in my brain, clouding out thoughts and feelings with a dark, impenetrable blackness. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a reasonable voice, though it was quiet and barely recognizable, was telling me that the Cullens had faced things like this before. And won. They had faced James, who was supposed to have been "absolutely lethal", they had finally finished off Victoria, they had beaten a huge army of newborn vampires, even though I had been convinced they would lose, they had managed to escape the Volturi, and had even teamed up with the werewolves before. _What are you worried about? _The voiced asked me over and over again.

"Bella." Edward was at my side, his arm around my waist, his lips finding mine. I saw Tanya glaring at us over his shoulder, her eyes round and crazed, her expression furious. She looked positively scathing, and for the first time ever, I found myself actually afraid of her. My heart sped up, hammering madly against my ribs, beating me forcibly from the inside in its attempt at escape.

"It's okay, love." Edward's velvety voice calmed me, as usual, and I managed a small breath.

"What's going to happen now, Edward?" I asked shakily. He hesitated, and then said in a rush that I had to strain to hear, "Tanya's coven is coming." He said it without much feeling, almost sounding bored, but I didn't miss the hint of malice in his undertone. This was _not_ good.

* * *

"I want you to stay close by when they arrive." Edward instructed me firmly. As if I wasn't already planning on that. We were seated on his leather sofa, his vast collection of CDs surrounding us in piles. It was all I could do to keep myself occupied enough to stop from screaming aloud. I put down the Alexisonfire album I had been inspecting and turned to him.

"Who are the Denali coven, anyway? How many of them are there?" I had a fleeting impression that he had told me all of this once before, but all of my other memories seemed a lifetime ago, and the fog wasn't letting me think back further than this morning.

"There are five of them." He counted them out on his fingers. "Tanya, Irina, Kate, Carmen, and Eleazar. Tanya, Kate, and Irina have been around for almost a thousand years. They were the originators behind the myth of the succubus – " I shuddered "– But they _felt bad_ for their victims, and so they became 'vegetarians', too. Carmen and Eleazar are from Spain, and they aren't as old as the others. Kate and Eleazar have powers, too." I blinked in response to this information-overload. The fog was preventing me from taking it all in.

"They have powers, too? I thought having powers was a rare thing?"

"It is. What you have to understand, though, Bella, is that vampires usually travel in very small groups of one or two, remember? So, when a big group is formed, it's more likely that a vampire with powers will show up there."

It made sense. I think.

"So .. .what are Kate and Eleazar's powers?" I asked. Edward's jaw tightened.

"_Kate _has a gift similar to mine. But hers is less … _obvious_. She doesn't hear thoughts," He added hastily as I opened my mouth to speak again, "She sees memories."

I could hardly believe it. "Memories?" It seemed a little odd, even to me.

"Yes. She can sift through people's memories, and learn things about them that way – their strengths, their weaknesses, who they hate, or love." He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "She can also manipulate the memories, if they're not too strong. She can remove them, or add false memories. Therefore, she can ultimately control someone's mind. Not completely, but enough to alter a person."

I was completely stunned. She could _alter a person_? See and change their memories? Know their weaknesses? It was a frightening thought, if nothing else. "And Eleazar?" I hedged.

Edward shrugged. "He's … different."

I opened my mouth again to try and gather more information, but at that exact moment, Edward sat up, pulling me off his lap and seating me next to him, while instantaneously leaning forward so that he was seated next to me and in front of me at the same time. After a brief moment, Alice, Jasper and Emmett came bursting into the room. That surprised me, because it was not who I was expecting, judging by Edward's reaction.

Jasper looked around the room as he entered, his eyes lingering on Edward. "Calm down." He said, "You're scaring Bella." His soft southern accent was ringing with laughter as I sniffed defensively.

Alice was nodding towards Edward in a distracted kind of way; I caught Emmett's eye and saw that he, too, seemed annoyed by their silent communication.

"What's going _on_?" I blurted out. Edward turned to back to me slowly, a grim smile obscuring his ruggedly and unbelievably beautiful features.

"They're here."

* * *

Tanya's coven were, to say the least, not at ALL what I expected.

First, there was Kate. She was unbelievably tall and lanky, taller and thinner than Rosalie, and even though by human standards she was exceptionally beautiful, by vampire standards she was nothing short of mundane. She had short, thick red hair that was almost as bright as (It made me sick to even think of it) Victoria's, and she wore it in a small little bob. She also wore a detached smile, as if she was smiling out of habit, or indifference, rather than actual happiness.

Irina was a small vampire, much more beautiful than Kate. She was taller than Alice, but just barely, and had a goddess-like figure similar to Rosalie, though it didn't do for her what Rosalie's curves did. She had short, thick eyelashes and very round eyes above her pointed lips and nose. She walked in with a sort of swagger and a bemused expression that commanded the attention of everyone in the room.

Carmen was easily the most unusual – and hauntingly beautiful. Her features belonged on darker toned skin, but her skin was just as pale as the rest. She had very big, surprised looking eyes curtained in long, sweeping dark lashes, and her head was covered in long, swishing light brown hair. She had the most amazing dimples in her cheeks, dimples that may have looked 'cute' or even funny on a normal human, but they gave her the look of someone who was always happy, and someone who was alarmingly good looking.

Eleazar was also unusual in his features, they were nothing short of striking. He was as tall as Emmett, but not nearly as burly, though he_ did _have very prominent muscles shaped under his thin cotton shirt. He had long, brown-black hair and a very tight look about him – as if he were all coiled up to spring ferociously. It frightened me.

Almost in unison, as if some imaginary signal had gone off and I had missed it, all five vampires' eyes traveled to me. Tanya wore a look of distinct disgust, while the others' eyes held a sort of naked interest and curiosity.

From my place, half-hidden behind Edward, his cold hand in mine, I particularly watched Irina. I was most interested in her – had she been aware of Laurent's "cheating" in his diet, and trying to kill me? Not to mention his using her, as I'm sure he did. He said himself that he sought out those with power. It was why he was in James' coven.

As I watched Irina, Kate looked up suddenly, her gaze meeting mine, pulsing with a raw sense of scrutinizing power. Though I wanted more than anything to look away, I resisted the urge and stared unblinkingly back, observing how her eyes widened, and then narrowed in frustration. She looked away suddenly, angrily. Beside me, Edward chuckled.

"_My _powers don't affect her, either. Neither did the Voturi's, for that matter." He chattered smugly. Kate looked amazed, as though she had just had the wind knocked out of her by a great, fast object that she was not expecting.

Tanya shot me another scathing look and I was appalled to realize that she had dropped her falsely sweet pretences. Edward growled menacingly at her, his grip tightening on my hands by just a small fraction.

As when Tanya had first arrived, the Cullens were all gathered around the door – Alice was standing with Jasper near the foot of the stairs, Carlisle and Esme were standing just to the right of the door, Rosalie and Emmett were hovering near the sofa, though not sitting, and Edward and I were positioned on the raised platform where the grand piano sat. _Unlike _when Tanya had arrived, none of the Cullens were seated, or even smiling. Carlisle wasn't trying to smooth over the rough patches of awkwardness, either – on the contrary, when he spoke, his tone was shrewd and business-like.

"We were _alerted _–" He gestured toward Alice – "That you had decided to hunt down an innocent young werewolf who had gone … astray, in order to manipulate the Pack into attacking, so that you could exact your revenge." He said coldly. It wasn't a question. He didn't sound like the serene, pacifying Carlisle I was familiar with.

At Carlisle's words, Tanya, Kate, and Carmen looked uncomfortable, and Eleazar looked baffled, as if he had no idea what was happening, and didn't know that he had been a part of such a scheme, but Irina looked unabashed, maybe even bored with all the small talk.

The whole situation seemed unreal to me. It was like I had jumped out of reality and gone spiraling frantically down a hole into wonderland, which happened to be in the center of a plot for an insane horror novel, where an enormous war for revenge and peace was happening between two vampire covens and a werewolf pack.

Irina spoke up, talking unusually slowly for a vampire, as if hoping that I, specifically, would pick out all the venomous words she was saying. She looked absolutely gleeful, her near-black eyes shining above her bruise-like hunger marks. Her mouth pulled into a wide smile, stretching her full lips over her sharp, white teeth and making her look somewhat psychotic.

"Oh, you surely must mean that beautiful man with the russet skin and shaggy hair?" She purred maliciously, her teeth glinting wickedly in the bright light. I had never thought of Jacob as a _man_, but, knowing that he must look that way to strangers, I knew she was talking about him right away. I noted how Irina leaned forward as she spoke, her melodic voice pouring over the rhythm of her vicious words excitedly. "We set him free in the woods. Gave him a bit of a head start, you could say. Let him … report back." Her animosity became more pronounced.

"HOW COULD YOU?" Came the ear-splitting, horrific shriek that I had no control over. It had ripped itself free of my composure with searing pain, filling my lungs, drowning me in pity and sorrow and despair, choking me on its way to the surface. "HE'S NEVER BOTHERED YOU! THE PACK _SAVED_ MY LIFE, LAURENT WAS TRYING TO KILL ME! HE WAS WORKING FOR VICTORIA! LEAVE JAKE ALONE!"

Irina's eyes narrowed. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, some worried, some taken aback, some looking almost as angry as Irina. I caught sight of Alice, her eyebrows raised so high that they were hidden under her fringe of inky hair, and Esme, who looked shocked and anxious that I felt so strongly.

"You really ought to control your pets." Irina snapped.

I wondered wildly how my wonderful, peaceful (well, minus Emmett, who was always on the look out for trouble and competition) Cullens were ever friends with such horrible, disgusting things as the Denali vampires.

Then suddenly I thought of how I would feel, if someone was keeping me from avenging Edward.

* * *

**Author's Note: **There will be some actual ACTION in the next chapter, I promise. I may even try to post two tomorrow ... We'll have to see. Don't forget to take the polls on my profile, they're EXTREMELY important. EXTREMELY.


	14. Until Your Lungs Give Out

**Author's Note:** ugh. Still looking for a Beta. Being one myself I used to edit my own but, ugh. It gets so frustrating, and it's a well-known fact that the people with sharper eyes for mistakes are the readers, so... I NEED A BETA READER! :P

On a sadder note: My keyboard is dying, and it is becoming very hard to type. :S

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen.

'**Until Your Lungs Give Out' **

Edward stiffened and growled mercilessly.

"She's no pet." Emmett snarled. I felt a sudden surge of affection for the muscular vampire I thought of as my big brother.

Irina didn't seem miffed in the least. She turned her wide, angry eyes to glare at each of us in turn, as if waiting for something. I could almost _see _the smoke billowing out from her ears, the flames and sparks jetting out pitilessly from her dark eyes. I took an unwilling step back.

Finally, what she seemed to have been waiting for happened. It was as if the room had sighed; we all sensed it was coming, we knew what had taken place between us all without the need for words. If the floor had suddenly opened up and a huge neon sign had popped out between us, it would have somehow been less obvious. We all just _knew._

"So … you're still going to fight the werewolves." Carlisle said. He was just making unnecessary clarification, I could tell.

Carmen raised an eyebrow in monotonous disbelief. "Obviously."

"Well then, I guess there's nothing we can do." Carlisle added quietly. I threw him a look of incredulity. "_We aren't seriously going to sit here and do NOTHING?"_ I wanted to yell. Instead, I turned to Edward, questions written all over my face, in the obvious lines forming between my eyebrows, in the dark circles under my eyes, in the anxious bite marks I had subconsciously etched into my lips. He shook his head slightly, indicating that he would tell me everything later. I couldn't believe we were just giving up – the dream I had had a few nights ago was bubbling up through the black fog in my brain in thunderous gasps of terrible graphic images that I did not want to see.

_But_, the voice in my head said, though unconvincingly, _the pack outnumbers the Denali coven greatly. They'll probably win the fight. _They'll _probably be the ones to rip Tanya's coven apart._ But, as I let my eyes deviate over each of the Alaskan vampires in turn, I realized that I did not want _them_ hurt, either. I couldn't explain it – I _hated_that coven, felt absolute, unadulterated loathing toward them. Yet I also felt … pity. That's the best way to describe it. They could be peaceful and wonderful like the Cullens, too, but Laurent had obviously affected – or more appropriate - _infected _– them in a very negative way.

If a werewolf had killed Edward, whether or not he was trying to drink from someone, I would want to get my revenge, too, I realized. I would become just like Irina. I would want to stop anyone getting in my way. And the Cullens would probably help; they would probably have done the same thing that Tanya's coven was doing.

This epiphany left me even more dazed and confused – so I _hated_ them, yet I _sympathized_ with them?

"Goodbye, Carlisle. Esme." Eleazar's voice rang with an ominous finality as he stepped forward to clasp Esme and Carlisle's hands in turn with both of his own, giving them a furious shake. He turned to give a small wave to the rest of us, as if he was leaving for a long vacation or something. Not one pf the Cullens returned the gesture.

As soon as Tanya's coven of vampires had disappeared out of earshot, everyone converged in around where Edward and I were stood.

"Alright, now what?" Emmett said excitedly, his hands balled into fists at his side - he was bobbing up and down in a very Alice-like gesture.

I stared.

"Should Bella come? I mean, it wouldn't be useful to have her in the way – sorry Bella – if we have to go and stop them from fighting." Jasper said quietly.

Everyone turned to look at me thoughtfully. Only Edward and Rosalie had stubborn my-mind's-already-made-up looks on their faces, and they both stated firmly at the same time: "No."

I looked from one to the other. Edward was just being stupid again – he was always treating me like I was made of porcelain, and he wanted to keep me out of the way of rogue werewolves and vicious vampires, I knew. Rosalie's reaction, however, left me nonplussed. She had never liked me; in fact, she used to be completely antagonistic toward me. She'd come around a little after a while, even going so far as to explaining her jealousy and why I shouldn't become a vampire. But she'd never cared much for me, either way. Whether I lived or died had never really bothered her.

Rosalie saw my questioning look and forced an awkward half-smile that only slightly obscured her dazzling goddess features. "I don't want you to get hurt." She said softly. (Edward smirked at her sudden turn around, and at my reaction to it.). "…I can sympathize with Irina, though." She admitted. I nodded.

"Me, too." I announced, looking directly at Edward as I spoke. I wouldn't stop until I could avenge him, either. I loved him too much to let him go without a fight.

"So then, it's settled." Alice chirped, bringing me out of my reverie. "Bella can stay in the trail leading to the clearing, and wait for us there. We will go to stop the fight. But –" She looked around at Carlisle, her question trailing off.

"If we can't stop it, _we _will have to fight." Carlisle said grimly. There was an obvious undercurrent of resignation and irremediableness in his voice. So they were preparing to fight.

"But, Carlisle, who's side do we fight on?" Esme's voice held tension so thick it was nearly tangible; this was the question that everyone was worried about. Do they fight for the treaty, for hope, or for friendship, and vengeance? If I looked at it in an unbiased way (which I couldn't, when I thought of Jacob, Embry, Quil, Seth, and Emily compared to the hate filled coven that had just passed through) I had to admit that both sides were appealing.

All eyes were on me again.

"I think." Said Carlisle slowly, after long deliberation, "That we should fight with the wolves."

* * *

"Edward, _please_ just let me come. I can help!" I protested fruitlessly. Edward shook his head.

"Bella, love, everything will be fine. No one will be hurt." He assured me unavailingly. He leaned down to kiss my resentful lips, his cool breath making my head spin, as usual, and I forgot to breathe. When I was about to faint, he finally pulled away, the last moment of our lips together rushing through with unmatched urgency.

"Come back." I whispered helplessly, foreboding creeping up on me from somewhere deep under the ground, rooting me to my place, tears fighting their way to the surface.

"I will." Edward promised, looking away. Then, without a warning, he sped off into the trees to join his family, Tanya's coven, and the wolves, where they were gathered, waiting to fight.

I wanted to sit down, but my knees refused to bend. I couldn't gather up the strength and will to move toward the ground. I was worried – if Tanya's coven somehow managed to win, everyone I cared about was in danger. Strong and powerful Emmett, who was also kind and funny, Willful and gorgeous Rosalie, who was also loyal and thoughtful, Alice, so joyful and friendly, Jasper, cool, collected, battle-scared, Esme – motherly, kind and beautiful Esme, who always looked out for everyone, Carlisle, his years of hard work at resistance and acceptance, and Jacob – my beautiful, amazing Jacob, with such a huge heart and even huger opinions, and Edward. I couldn't live without Edward. If one of them hurt him, I would … nothing. I couldn't do anything if he got hurt, because I was a weak, useless, pathetic human.

_Why couldn't he have changed me!? _I pounded my fist of the nearest tree in anger and agitation, which wasn't a good idea, because a big purple bruise appeared on my hand almost immediately, leaving it feeling tender. My scream of pain was lost, however, drowned out by another shriek – a much more repugnant one, filled with detestation and terror: "YOU TRAITORIOUS FOOLS!"

It was followed by even more hair-raising, shrill wails, and soon, the sound I'd come to know only too well – that god awful, metallic screech and thud.

My muscles stopped refusing to move almost instantly – I was suddenly running, (and falling) and running (and falling _again_) as fast as my little legs could carry me toward the source of the horrific noises. Everyone I loved was in trouble – there must be something I could do to help!

_I _need _to go._ The little voice in my head was yelling, _I can stop this. I know I can. I am the bridge over the gap between the werewolves and the vampires, a lowly human who is fond of them all. I can stop this._

But time was slowing down. It was as if it knew that I needed to speed up, to go faster and stop the war, and it was deliberately slowing, spurring on my weaknesses with slow motion, willing me to go faster but at the same time holding me back. Finally, after what seemed like hours, I stumbled into the clearing.

And was struck by the scene that faced me.


	15. Arms of Cages

**Disclaimer: **I own _nothing._ The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen.

'**Arms of Cages**'

Chaos. That's the only way to describe the revolting scene I now faced. Vampires and werewolves were everywhere – some of them in pieces. There were thunderous crashes and rips and snarls as the war of the mythical creatures raged on.

Nearby, I saw a small werewolf facing a much stronger-looking vampire. I knew at once that the little wolf was Seth – he had been allowed to fight this time, but he looked anemic and futile next to the tall vampire with fierce eyes and rippling muscles. The vampire I didn't recognize. He was tall, with small, bright topaz eyes filled with ferocity and animalistic anger. His short, dusty looking blond-brown hair fell into his eyes in little fringes as he faced Seth, making him look positively lethal. I couldn't watch them, yet I couldn't bare to look away.

"Bella!" A startlingly angry voice called my name. It wasn't smooth and seductive velvet, like I would've expected, but rather, it was fierce, low and husky, familiar, yet surprisingly frightening. I looked up to see Jacob, out of wolf form, glaring at me, undiluted rage evident on his face. He was clutching his side, which was bleeding profusely, yet healing quickly. I noted that werewolf blood really must smell disgusting to vampires, as none of them were trying to kill him, yet. Obviously, someone had already tried.

"Bella! Get out of here!" Jacob yelled again. I met his eye and shook my head once. Over Jacob's shoulder, I watched Edward, locked in a sort of staring competition with another vampire I didn't recognize, a feral female one, her long, curly dark blonde hair matted around her elbows. He was looking past her, though. Watching her, yet not completely. He was really looking at _me, _his eyes smoldering even from a distance, pleading desperately with me to leave.

"No." I said, just under my breath, but I knew he would hear it. Evidently, so did Jacob. His features twisted menacingly and he roared.

"Bella, for god's sake, GET OUT!"

Suddenly, something collided with me, knocking me sideways. It was rock hard and steely, like a vampire, yet it was warm, not icy, so it must have been a werewolf. It knocked the breath out of my lungs with a _whoosh,_ and hit my head, leaving it throbbing like mad. For one brief moment, I thought that Jake had morphed into a wolf and tackled me, but then I was flying through the air, darkness squeezing in around me, clouding my vision, stars of different colours popping up wherever I tried to look. I knew that Jake would never have knocked the wind out of me like that.

With a sickening crunch, I landed. I felt myself crumple, struggling for consciousness, sure that I had broken my ribs or something, judging by the awful ache pulsing through me. The fog that had settled in my brain now fought its way down to my eyes, so that I became blind, unable to see anything but foggy shapes through the terrifying darkness. I heard my name being called by different voices in all different degrees of panic, but no one came near me. They were still fighting.

I worried about Seth, and Jacob, lying on the forest floor, bleeding. I struggled to sit up, causing more eruption of stars, forcing me to give up. To my utter relief, the fog was starting to lift. Everything was sideways, but at least I could see.

A few feet away from me, rolling idly on the ground, was a grotesque, formerly beautiful head. As I watched, the Leah wolf jumped at it, snapping it in half. I cringed.

Tanya's coven must have known they'd be outnumbered – either that, or they had decided not to fight fair. They hadn't let the Cullens know they were bringing backup. _They must have all been working hard to conceal this fact from Edward_, I thought.

A shadow was looming over me suddenly, and shallow, agonized breathing was erupting from it. I closed my eyes tightly, wondering if I was about to be attacked, preparing against the pain, waiting for Edward to arrive at my side. But, suddenly, I was being cradled like a child in warm, gentle arms, and was being carried away from the fray.

"No! Put me down Jacob! I have to help! Put me back!"

"Bella, you're hurt." Jake said curtly. As he turned toward the trail, I saw Alice, her eyes closed peacefully, as though she were asleep, surrounded by two other vampires; one I recognized as Carmen. They ran at her, but she was ready for them. Suddenly she was ten feet away, facing them, smiling mockingly.

"You can't be here. It's dangerous for you. What if you had just gotten cut? You're surrounded by hordes of leeches!" Jake continued chidingly. "You aren't helping lying in the ground like that."

"You were on the ground, too!" I protested angrily.

"_I _was _healing_. _You_ can't." He pointed out. I breathed out in an angry huff. It wasn't fair.

"Jake. People are being hurt in there. I need to go back. Everyone I care about is in there." I cried. His face flashed with hurt, and just as I realized how he could've interpreted what I'd said, his expression tightened and darkened, falling into a mask of neutral indifference.

"You need to get to a hospital, Bella. You're broken." Jake whispered. Then he smiled tightly and added, "And you smell disgusting." His light attempts at a joke did nothing to squelch the feeling of terror rising through me.

"Jacob Black, put me down now! I have to go back there, I have to make sure they're alright."

"Those parasites are fine." Jake growled. I would normally have reprimanded his behavior, but I supposed he had reason to hate vampires now more than ever. He had been taken hostage, used as bait, after all.

"Did they hurt you?" I wondered out loud.

"No." Jacob snorted. "That freaky one that loved that leech from the meadow wasn't there. It was just this tall lanky one, and she just sort of talked to me a lot, flirted with me, I guess."

I was dumbstruck. Kate had _flirted_ with him? That wasn't the kind of awful torture I had been expecting. Then, Edward's words came back to me: "_The originators of the succubus…they love all men…"_ And Irina had called him "beautiful", after all. They were messed up vampires.

"Wow, you're really green." Jacob commented. We were by the tree that I had punched now, on the trail leading to the meadow.

"Stop here, Jake. I need to wait for Edward. He wanted me to wait here." I instructed, and Jake laid me down on the hard ground with ill grace.

"Bella, I think you broke your ribs." Jacob said, frowning.

"I know." It still hurt to move. And breathe. And think – I was sure I had a concussion from whatever hit me. "What knocked into me, anyway?"

Jacob sighed. "It was Quil. One of the vampires jumped at him – the tall skinny one that had kept me. She said something to him under her breath, it seemed to make him slow down, and then she launched herself at him… I'm not sure what happened to him after that, they flew into the trees after they bowled you over."

"I'm sorry." I was. It was my fault that the Denali coven were here, my fault that they had attacked Jacob, my fault that Quil could be hurt, or dead …

"It's okay, Bells. It's not your fault." Jacob said slowly, reaching for my hand. I wondered if he had learned to read minds.

Suddenly, Jacob stiffened. It was such an Edward-like movement that I was momentarily confused (the fog was not helping me think straight) and it wasn't until he wheeled around, growling, that I knew the danger must have followed us, like it always did.

"Give me the human." Said a sickly sweet, over-honeyed voice. _Tanya._

"No." Growled Jacob darkly; he was already shaking like mad, ready to turn into his wolf form.

"No one needs to be hurt – you're a _pretty _boy, and I'm not all anti-werewolf." Tanya said sweetly, moving closer slowly, carefully. Jacob stepped in front of me, dropping my hand. I noticed with a shock how much taller and more impressive he was – in the few short months that he'd gone, he seemed to have bulked up a lot. From this angle, he looked scathing and frightening.

"Don't _touch _her." He said, eyeing her warily. But Tanya was too fast – in one lithe movement, she had suddenly scooped me up in her arms and we were flying into the woods, around trees and rocks, away from the trail and the clearing. I knew at any moment Jacob would be turning into a wolf and running after us, but by then it would be too late.

"Where are you taking me?" I gasped. I was surprised at how steady my voice sounded when I was sure she would kill me. I prayed that Edward would show up out of the blue like he always did.

"Far away from here. I'm not going to hurt you, no no. I'm not a _bad_ vampire, silly girl." She spoke as though she were conversing with a mentally handicapped five year old. "I'm merely going to drop you off somewhere secluded, somewhere … deserted. Somewhere where they'll never find you. Edward will forget you eventually, he always does."

Her last few words had bitten into me: _He always does_? He always does what!?

"What?"

"Did you think that you were the only one Edward had ever considered? Ha! How pathetic. You're just a _human_." Her voice was filled with anger and bitterness. "I tried again and again to get him to pay attention to _me_. His family was encouraging me along, too –" She shot me a dirty look, "– But then you waltzed in, and he was captivated. He ran to me, you know, when your scent attacked him, drove him away. You do smell awfully yummy … He told me he was worried about ruining everything, and I encouraged him to stay, but no – he said it was too 'awkward' to be around me when he 'didn't feel the same'. Well, now he'll hate me." She continued gleefully, "And hate is an awfully passionate emotion, you know."

I stared up at the hazy features of the stunning beautiful, mercilessly sadistic vampire freak.

"Edward!" I cried, in my last attempt to save myself from Tanya's clutches. Her jealous-crazed eyes stared coldly down at me, a triumphant smile marring her features with psychotic-ness. I felt terror dripping into my veins, adrenaline coursing through me, my heart beating frantically against my rips, actually physically hurting me with each beat. I was scared, I was alone, and worst of all, I was in immense physical pain. The pain was spreading, becoming worse and worse as my mind started to slip into unconsciousness and all I could feel were my broken ribs.

"Edward." I whispered again, praying that somehow, he would find me.


	16. Lost, Yet Found

**Author's Note: **GAH! Only THIRTEEN DAYS to finish this story! AAAAAHHHHH! I'm seriously starting to panic, but I REFUSE to give up yet.

Anyway, so I'm not all that happy with this chapter, so I'm going to start on the next chapter _right now_, and hopefully get it posted today, and it should be better than this one ...

I also just wrote the first chapter to a story about Alice becoming a vampire that I will not be working on until this is finished, but it is my next priority afterwards, I think ...

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer, whom I am _not_.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen.

'**Lost, Yet Found**'

I don't know when I finally resurfaced into consciousness – maybe I never completely went under, because the ache that filled my broken body never dulled, and unconsciousness never gave me the release from the pain that I'd expected.

When I finally woke up, I was alone. I didn't understand what had happened at first, I had no idea where I was or how I'd gotten there. It was like when you've been asleep for a very long time, and you wake up somewhere completely different from where you thought you'd be. I couldn't pull myself to my feet – the pain was too overwhelming. Getting bowled over by a werewolf and a vampire sure hurts. I managed to pull myself up into a sitting position after a while, leaning against a boulder, and that's when I realized it.

_I had been kidnapped_.

I was in the middle of a large clump of trees and bushes, having been sprawled out on the twigs, the mud and the bracken. But I wasn't in the forest of Forks – I was somewhere new. I knew right away, because there was _brown_ here. A lot of it. The dirt-covered ground was brown, the tree trunks and branches were brown, and the huge boulders that littered the trail every few feet were also very much brown. Forks would never have looked like this.

In a blurred rush that left me feeling dazed (though it could've just been the concussion), it all hit me. Tanya. She'd taken me where "they would never find me". I looked around, horrified. Who knew how far away from Forks I was? Who knew if I was even still in North America! _Think now, Bella. _I thought, my intuition flickering through the panic that was flooding me, _I have to get out of here. I have to find a town, or something … _I scrambled awkwardly to my feet, leaning on trees in order to stand, and started to move forward. My pace was slow, even slower than usual, and I fell a lot, despite trying to be careful. Each time I fell, my whole body ached, and I had to wait out the pain on the ground, resting until I could move, and then I had to find something to grasp to pull myself up, something sturdy enough to support my weight.

During one of these episodes on the ground, as I breathed in and out, sending shivers through a nearby patch of grass, I wondered dully if Edward knew I was missing. If the battle was over, he would come and look for me, no doubt. But a part of me wondered if Jake had told him what had happened – or if he had tried to play hero himself, and gotten hurt. I shuddered at the thought. _Please, Jake, _I thought, _please have been smart enough to go for help. _

It was completely dark before the scenery around me changed – I had been moving without really knowing what direction I was going in, so it was an enormous relief to realize that I wasn't getting myself stranded further into the darkening forest. I had been walking (and crawling) for hours, and my legs, arms, head, chest … _everything _ached. Finally, (I could've cried out in joy) the trees seemed to thin out ahead, and there was definitely artificial light streaming through … I started to walk faster – still slower than my usual pace – and let out a relieved sigh when I finally made it through the break in the trees to the other side.

I was now standing on the edge of a road lit with streetlamps and house lights. Past the next street, I could see what looked like endless rows of farmland. At once my common sense kicked in: I needed to find out _exactly_where I was, and then I needed to call the Cullens.

I staggered almost drunkenly toward a gas station, praying that they had a phone, and that they wouldn't ask me many questions. A buzzer sounded as I opened the door, and a squat little man behind the counter looked up. I watched him look me over, his eyes growing wide and puzzled, his mouth popping open into a little "o" of horror, but he said nothing. I realized that I must look terrible – I had been wandering through the underbrush for an overlong amount of time, and I had been attacked before that. Sure enough, I noticed how my jeans were shredded in places as I looked down. I couldn't suppress my groan.

"You don't look to good." The man at the counter said, sounding concerned. I forced a smile.

"I'm fine. Just got a little … lost in the woods. Can you tell me where I am?"

His eyes narrowed shrewdly, his bushy grey eyebrows knitting together. I noticed that his chest swelled proudly when he did this, making his nametag stand out against his dark flannel shirt: Peter. "You in some kind of trouble?" Peter asked carefully.

_Yes. There is a war going on between the vampires and the werewolves, I was dragged away from it by my former best friend, kidnapped by a vampire who's madly in love with my undead fiancé, and left for dead in the middle of nowhere. _"No." I said, trying to look wide-eyed and innocent in the way that Edward is always so good at when he's lying to people like Charlie. "Just lost, sir."

After a moment, Peter's eyebrows un-knit. "Okay then." He said slowly, still eyeing me suspiciously. I had never been all that great at lying. "You're in Ottoville, Ohio."

"OHIO?" My heart stopped for a moment before pounding faster than ever before. I was in Ohio? And in a little farm town far from anywhere, no less. Great. I hoped Tanya had died in battle for this, or that Edward had caught up to her and –

"Is that all, Missy?"

"Um, no." I said, trying to cover up my exclamation of terror with mock patience and politeness. "May I please use your phone?"

Peter took one last long look at me, his eyebrows rising, seeming to consider me for a moment, and then pity flashed through his face one last time as he again stared at my ragged appearance and green-ish face, contorted with pain. I thought for a moment that he was going to ask something else, like _"Have you been hurt?" _But he only inclined his head, and mumbled "This way…", Gesturing behind the counter at an old fashioned phone on the wall.

I slowly crept along the counter, leaning my weight on it, not wanting to show the pain and beaten state I was in. I grabbed for the phone he held out to me over-enthusiastically, causing his mouth to twist warily, and I watched as he backed away from me, which was great, because I couldn't let him overhear the conversation I was about to have.

With trembling fingers, I dialed Edward's number. Twice I fumbled it, my hands were shaking so badly, but on the third try I finally got it right. It had barely rung at all when a highly relieved, ethereal voice sighed.

"Bella."

Just the sound of his voice, so clearly stressed, yet unbelievably smooth and beautiful, left me feeling so much calmer. Everything would be alright now. "Edward - how did you know it was me?" I asked, though I thought I already knew the answer.

"Well, when the last of Tanya's coven scampered, Alice didn't have to focus on them any longer, and she had a vision of you, left in the woods." There was a small, minuscule pause. "Oh, Bella, I'm so sorry. I thought you were safe with Jacob."

The hurt and self-loathing that were once again apparent in his voice made me cringe. "Stop it Edward! It's not your fault. It's mine. If I hadn't gone into the clearing, I _would have_ been safe. I wanted to help." It sounded pathetic in my own ears – that I had wanted to help, a mere human, incapable of healing, like werewolves, or of granite hard skin and steely muscles, like the vampires. I was help_less_. And I hated it.

"I know." Edward breathed. Then he sighed. "Don't worry, we're coming to get you. Stay where you are. We'll be there really soon."

I had no idea how they were planning on getting across the country "really soon", but, as I chanced a look at Peter from the corner of my eye, his grumpy expression suspicious and his eyes on me, I hoped that they would somehow make it, and I knew never to doubt the Cullens.

* * *

I watched the shadows of the trees and houses glance past as we drove quickly across the countryside. Edward's arms were around me, but he hadn't said anythingsince he'd picked me up besides: "Carlisle, can you do anything for her? She's really hurt." And he hadn't even said that to me.

Now that the last of the hazy fog was lifting from my brain, I realized that no one had made any sound, not a cough or even a loud breath, for a very long time. They all seemed exhausted, grim, and I could pinpoint why right away. Something was wrong.

"What happened?" I stuttered anxiously, my voice barely audible to my own ears, yet ringing with horror and dread.

Alice turned to look at me from the front seat, her eyes wide, searching my face for something. She opened her mouth, presumably to lie to me, but was silenced by a look from Edward. She shrugged nonchalantly and turned back around. I met Edward's eyes pleadingly. What had gone wrong?

"You saw how they brought extras to fight." Edward whispered vaguely, staring at the passing scenery as though hypnotized, not meeting my eyes at all. I knew what he was talking about, though he didn't elaborate. "There were a lot of them, we were evenly matched." He kissed the top of my head suddenly, surprising me. "There weren't _quite_ as many of them when we were through, though." He snarled, "But there also weren't as many … of us."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I PROMISE that the next chapter will be better. I'm dying to tell you all what happened in the war, it's so hard not to go on with this chapter right now (which was what I was originally going to do, but I broke it into two chapters, instead)!! But, I will restrain myself in the hopes that I can make it exciting.


	17. Let The Flames Begin

**Author's Note:** I actually wrote this _yesterday_, but while I was trying to post it, my modem broke. It seriously just DIED. And I was under MAJOR time constraints! Gah! I tried everything to fix it – I even called out to Edward Cullen in hopes that he would buy me a shiny new modem, but nothing worked.

Then, I had a _brilliant _idea – why don't I email it to my friend and get HER to post the story for me? Uh, ha ha to me, because when the internet doesn't work, neither does email. Duh.

Anyway, here it is, a day late, my apologies.

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer, whom I am _not_.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen.

'**Let The Flames Begin' **

Sometimes, all your instincts are telling you to do something – to run, cry, scream, faint – but you can't move. So you do nothing; you simply sit and wait. And hope that you can live through what's about to happen, or in my case – what you're about to hear.

I once watched a robin eat a dragonfly. It was beautiful and ugly at the same time; mesmerizing. That's what it was like, sitting there in Edward's arms, shielded from the night by the heavily tinted windows of Carlisle's Mercedes, listening to Edward's dire tale unfold. If it had only been a tale, it would have been great. astounding even. But it was _reality_ to me, and everything that happened, every gruesome detail, was closing in on me, suffocating me slowly, crushing my lungs to powder.

Apparently, when the Cullens had arrived in the clearing, it was to find Tanya's coven surrounded by nearly a dozen other vampires.

"Eleazar had invited his friends along for the party." Edward recounted bitterly, "That's where he and Carmen had been when Tanya was visiting. They were preparing to attack the wolves, anyway … that's why Tanya was visiting. It was a false pretence. They were going to hunt down the wolves, anyway, without hunting Jacob. Bella, it wasn't your fault." But his words did nothing to ease the feeling of immense guilt that had settled in the pit of my stomach like a pile of rocks.

When the Cullens had tried to bring the groups that were locked in a face off to civility, Tanya had screamed and launched herself at Esme, and that set everyone off. That was what I had heard from the trail.

Before I had managed to stumble into the clearing, a lot had happened.

"The very first thing I noticed was Embry – I think that was his name – ramming into one of the vampires, knocking her over, and then he –" I didn't want to think about how that vampire had died. I'd watched Edward kill one before, and the thought of grotesque dismembered limbs rolling around on the ground was just making me sick.

Sam and Emmett had actually worked _together _to kill Irina. She was really fast and agile, with a knack for screaming at an unbelievably high pitch, so that it hurt their ears and they ended up cowering away if they got to close and she shrieked like a banshee. Finally, though, they'd managed to swoop in and finish her off, ripping her apart piece by beautiful piece. I almost felt bad for her.

All the while Edward was retelling his story, I was confused. It sounded as though we had definitely won. But then, why was everyone so dispirited? Sure, it was a gloomy tale, but nothing too disturbing. Then, a tremor rocked my body as it fell through my spine. The worst was coming. And this story must get _a lot _worse.

When I'd finally reached the meadow, Jake had been badly wounded by two vampires called Rachel and Rhys, who had ganged up on him. He'd unphased to stop himself from healing too quickly, like the last time.

"He put up a great fight, though." Carlisle interjected in hushed voice. "Rachel and Rhys both ended up surrendering."

Then, I had been knocked backwards by Quil and another vampire, who'd continued to roll into the woods, and had yet to return.

"You gave me quite a scare." Edward scolded quietly. "For a split-second there, the worst split-second of my 'life', I thought your body had taken one too many hits. I was so sure that you were …" He trailed off, his eyes clouding, and cleared his throat, "But you were – _mostly_ – fine, and I couldn't run to you, so Jacob did, instead." He sounded bitter again, and I wondered if it was because Jacob had been the one to save me, or because the story was about to become a lot worse. Or both.

"I didn't notice when Tanya left the clearing. _I should've noticed. _But I was busy with my own vampire, Kylea, and then, she had already left to find you. When I had finished with Kylea, Jacob came back, all out of breath and exhausted, so much so that he couldn't speak, I had to pick the information out of in his mind, and he'd chased your scent until it had vanished. I ran after you with Jacob, hoping I'd be more attuned to you, but we still found nothing.

"Then, Alice had a vision of you, wandering through the woods. We weren't sure where on a map though – _woods _doesn't describe very much." He shot a slightly scathing look at Alice, as though he blamed her for the imperfect vision that hadn't helped them find me, "We had all been out searching for you when you'd called ... Even Rosalie."

I was stunned. Edward looked down at me pleadingly, as if begging my forgiveness for not knowing my exact location. His ethereal features were just barely composed into a mask – I knew instinctively that there was still more to the story, but Edward wasn't going to tell me anymore here, not just yet.

* * *

When we finally pulled up in the Cullen's garage, I was aghast to see, not the four familiar vampires I had been expecting, but Esme, Emmett and Rosalie among seven sullen looking strangers.

"Don't get out yet, Bella." Carlisle warned seriously, "They don't know how strong their resistance is to you."

Sure enough, I noticed one of the slender female vampires cringe when the doors opened for Carlisle and Alice to jump out. What struck me as odd about this vampire was her cotton-candy blue hair, hardly longer than Alice's and just as spiky, but before I had time to ask about it, Edward's cool, sweet breath was tickling my ear.

"Those are the vampires who surrendered." Edward whispered, answering some of my unvocalized questions. "As it turns out, Carmen and Eleazar had traveled to Madrid for a while about a hundred years back, and that's where they first met this coven, and introduced them to the peaceful 'vegetarian' lifestyle. The coven have grown since then. Adelina - the one that you're staring at with the blue hair - she's only about five years old. Still practically a newborn. Her hair was dyed that way as a human." He said this with a slight air of disgust in his tone, as if it was completely stupid of her to be here when I was, too. Then he pointed to each of the unique vampires in turn, "That's Rachel, that's Rhys, Adelina, Iago, Clara, Pepito and Matilda. There was one more, Alonso, but … that stupid wolf, Paul, has an awful temper." He finished angrily. I shuddered at the graphic thought he had just inadvertently planted in my head.

"What happened to Tanya and her coven?" I asked suddenly. Edward sighed.

"We chased her back to Denali. I was going to kill her, or at least force some information out of her - but Kate was with her. She made me forget why I was chasing Tanya, and what she had done to you. I didn't remember until I got back, and Rosalie told me. And after we took care of Irina, most of the other vampires took off. Carmen and Eleazar surrendered, though." He added as an afterthought.

"Where are they?" I craned my neck to see past the array of colorful vampires that were crowded around the hood of the Mercedes.

"They're not here." Edward murmured. "Eleazar's power was needed in the clearing."

Something had dawned on me. "Hey, you never did tell me what his power was." I pointed out obnoxiously.

"His power is incredibly useful and brilliant – he can heal almost anyone of almost any affliction. It's much less trivial than mine, or Alice's, Jasper's, or Kate's."

I wasn't an idiot. I hadn't missed the double meaning in what he had told me. If they needed Eleazar's power, then … "Edward," I cried, "Who's hurt?"

"Jasper. And Seth. Leah." My breath caught in my lungs, "Quil is still missing from when he flew into the woods. And Jacob is also hurt."

I felt my eyes fly open in shock. A lot of people were hurt, all because of me.

"Let's go. Please." I begged. Edward hesitated for only the briefest of moments before nodding. Then, so fast that I blinked and missed it, he had sprung out of the seat beside me and gracefully settled himself into the driver's seat, and we were driving away.

* * *

Maybe it was my colossal impatience, or maybe time playing games again, but I could've sworn that Edward was running in slow motion toward the clearing.

When we _finally _broke through the cover of trees, the sight that met me made me feel slightly faint. Huge piles of vampire body parts littered the ground, barely burning, heavily perfumed smoke filling the air and blurring visibility, giving everything a grey and nightmarish look, and filling my lungs, causing a small coughing fit that earned me a concerned look from Edward.

People were sitting in small groups of two or three, talking and moaning, or nursing wounds. Leah and Seth were perched together on a tree that had been knocked down during the battle; Seth looked ghostly white and close to passing out, and Leah's arm had big chunks taken out of it, which were slowly healing back, but that must have been unbelievably awful a few hours ago – she also had a large patch of hair missing, which Edward explained was because of Rosalie.

"When Leah was fighting Eleazar, she got a little too close to Emmett." He chuckled.

Leah was also almost doubled over, I noticed she was crying almost hysterically and wondered why.

As we turned, I noticed Jasper sitting by himself off to one side, his eyes closed, a look of intense concentration marring his otherwise perfect face. Eleazar was standing over him, gripping his elbow gingerly.

"One of them ripped off Jasper's arm when he wasn't looking." Edward whispered solemnly. "Emmett took care of them afterward." Poor Jasper.

Eleazar looked up as we passed; he nodded at Edward in polite salutation. That's when I noticed, a few feet behind Eleazar and Jasper, sat Jacob.

Jake was sitting between Embry and Jared, his eyes half-closed sadly, a faraway expression on his face that was not unlike how Alice looked when she was receiving a vision.

Jared looked uncomfortable – he was wringing his hands ominously and muttering to himself, his eyebrows contracted.

Embry's face was impassive, carefully blank and emotionless, but as I watched, a single, silent tear slid slowly down his cheek before evaporating from the heat.

But none of this was what caught my attention the most. Because just to the left of them, clearly dead, was an giant black wolf, spread-eagled on the ground near one of the largest bonfires.

"Sam!" I cried, clasping my hand over my mouth in horror. I realized why Leah had been crying. I made a wild motion to run toward Sam, but Edward's strong, smooth stone-like hands wrapped around me gingerly, holding me back.

"There's nothing you can do; _he's gone_."

Angry, hot tears were streaking silently down my face, burning me, shaking my body and causing my injuries to flare. I didn't know exactly _why _I was crying for Sam, I hadn't even liked him, but I'd never wanted him dead. I thought of Emily, and how empty her life would be without him. They were supposed to be getting married. I'd seen the love that ran unequivocally through their veins – they warmed a room with each other's presence, to the point where it was almost unbearable. And what about the pack? Sam had been a vigilant leader, brave, if untrusting and cynical, the pack guide, and now he was gone.

"Jacob's the leader now." Edward said softly. His voice was muffled in my ears as I cried into his chest. Sometimes I would bet anything that he's only pretending not to be able to hear my mind.

I sensed someone watching us and felt calm rain over me.

"Thanks, Jasper." I said, wiping my eyes on my sleeve.

"Here, Eleazar will heal you." Edward said, taking my hand gingerly and leading me to where Eleazar was now standing, surveying the clearing, and the irreversible damage that had been done.

"I'm fine." I protested vainly, attempting to resist.

"No, you're not. You're just in shock. Your injuries would be _a lot _more prominent without that numbness, trust me. Do you realize you have two broken ribs, one bruised, a sprained ankle, a concussion, and a scraped knee?"

"Oh, no, not a scraped knee!" I cried sarcastically, throwing my hand in the air in exasperation. I really was hurting, but I didn't want to be healed. If I was healed, I was sure that Edward would make me leave, but I wasn't ready to go yet. I _needed_ to stay in the clearing, because I had made up my mind about what _my_ special "power" was. Human or not, I had discovered one. And I was going to work with it.

* * *

I'd lain down on the damp, dirty ground as Eleazar looked me over, entrusting me to "concentrate on the pain". And, as I concentrated on it, it had slowly ebbed away, my bruised skin returning to its normal, placid, pale colour. Even my chapped, chewed lip became smooth.

"Wow." I breathed, marveling in the wonder of Eleazar's power.

"It worked, did it?" Eleazar beamed. "I can heal almost _anything_. Bruises, cuts, diseases …" He sounded enormously self-satisfied. Edward rolled his eyes at him behind his back.

"Are you healing the werewolves, too, then?" I asked. Eleazar frowned.

"No. they can heal themselves. Not as well as I can, of course, what I can heal heals perfectly … I don't think I _can_ heal them, anyway – I've never tried, but as werewolves are our mortal enemies, well …"

I shrugged off his obviously transparent attempt at an explanation. "I think you should try it. I have a theory about that." Edward rolled his eyes again. I could almost hear _his _thoughts – _"great, another theory."_

"No, really." I insisted, ploughing on loudly, "The werewolves are _convinced _that vampires are bad, and that they were created to destroy them, right? I think that's wrong." I could sense everyone looking at me now. "Werewolves are as strong as vampires, but no stronger. If they were really meant to destroy them, then why aren't they stronger? I think that both vampires and werewolves were made equal, so that there was something else in the world just as strong as vampires. Not to destroy all of them, just to keep them in check. And vampires can do the same for werewolves. Because I don't think that there is just good and bad vampires and werewolves. I think it can go either way with both. You weren't _supposed_ to be enemies, you probably just became jealous of one another's power and became obsessed with killing each other. _That's _my theory."

Edward looked thoughtful; Eleazar looked insultingly impressed. The barely suppressed murmurs of surprise from around me told me that no one had ever considered this before.

"Interesting theory." Edward complimented me. I smiled smugly. I knew that eventually I would find a theory that could possibly work out.

The fact that I had used my wondrous human "power" made a silver lining in the figurative storm clouds overhead slightly visible to me. I had realized, studying Sam's crumpled body, what my power was. _I was the hope_. The bridge over the gap between the vampires and the werewolves. I could bring them together, help them finally get along. And I would.

* * *

**Author's Note: **How many of you caught my homage to "Charmed" concealed in here? - I gave Eleazar Leo's power. (Actually, you voted on it, but that's where the idea came from)

And did you catch that this title was named after a Paramore song? It seemed to fit really well. In case you didn't already notice, most of the chapters of this story are named after songs.

**The next chapter should be up in two hours or less, hopefully -** and congratulations to me, because I just finished writing the ending of this story! It sort of came to me, so I wrote it down. It's good. You'll see. :D


	18. Miracles And Understandings

**Author's Note:** All of you wonderful people who like this story and have added me to your alert subscription - I'm watching you. And waiting for you to review ...

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer, whom I am _not_.

* * *

Chapter Eighteen.

'**Miracles And Understandings**'

"That's stupid." Leah's snide voice cut through my brief euphoria. With difficulty, I mastered the sudden, unexpected impulse to snap back at her, and somehow, I managed to just ignore her.

"_Please _just try it?" I begged Eleazar. He looked as if he had swallowed a particularly large and wiggly spider as he surveyed the werewolves crowding the clearing. I felt a stubborn jolt as my gaze fell onto the lifeless body of Sam. There was the reason that I needed to go on, needed them to end this stupid feud once and for all.

Eleazar saw me eyeing the wolf and misinterpreted my expression. "No. _Nothing_ can heal the dead." He said curtly.

Seth's voice rang out like a beacon, flooding me with renewed hope and strength. "I think Bella's theory sounds good." He said brightly, though wincing as he did so. I sincerely hoped that boy would make it to my wedding. I remembered how he and Edward had had – sort-of – bonded over facing Victoria and Riley together. I knew that deep down, they liked each other and could easily get along, and now _they _were going to know it, too.

"Heal Seth!" I suggested ecstatically, watching Seth wince again as he leaned back toward his sister. Eleazar looked at me for a second as though I was a stark raving lunatic, then, slowly, as though unsure of what to think, he turned to Edward.

"Why not?" Edward shrugged, though without much conviction. He didn't think it would work.

"Alright." Eleazar frowned, turning reluctantly to walk soundlessly and fluidly toward Seth, with a grace that left me in awe once again. I was incredibly sure that I wouldn't be that elegant as a vampire.

I leaned forward eagerly to watch with enthusiasm as Eleazar leaned over Seth. Edward chuckled at me. "Clam down, Bella. It's not walking on water." He assured me. But I felt that having a vampire heal a werewolf was nothing short of a miracle, and no amount of negativity could take that away from me.

I could sense the entire clearing holding its breath as Eleazar stood over Seth, his hands outstretched passively.

Seth was groaning as he concentrated on his pain – I understood why; it got worse before it got better. But, to everyone's astonishment, slowly, the pale, sickly look of Seth's face evaporated into an expression of serenity.

"He'd had internal bleeding." Edward informed me breathlessly, obviously in awe. He must have picked that information out of Eleazar's mind.

"Show us again! That could've been a fluke!" I called to Eleazar cunningly. Edward shot me a shrewd look, but I avoided his eye. I was going to get Eleazar to heal all the injured, and they were all going to see the truth.

Slowly, Eleazar bent over Leah, who, though still sobbing, watched in astonishment as her open wounds began to heal, the skin growing back over them, and her hair began to grow over the patches where it had been ripped out. I felt a keen smile light up my face. Edward was beaming, too. The wolves, Eleazar, Carmen, and Jasper were all completely speechless. They had all thought that Eleazar's power wouldn't work on his natural enemies – but I felt that I had proved that the wolves and vampires _weren't _supposed to be enemies.

"I still don't believe it."

I turned to see Embry, Jake and Jared all staring at me haughtily. Jake was eyeing Edward discerningly, and I thought I knew why. I caught Jake's eye, willing him to understand. He didn't have to like Edward; he just had to know that he could if he wanted to.

"Please, Jake." I whispered, refusing to break eye contact with him. I was going to have my miracle.

Jared and Embry looked away nervously. I met Jasper's eye, and he shook his head slightly. I sighed at everyone's reluctance to accept the truth.

"How can you say it's not true? Look what just happened!" I gestured wildly toward Eleazar and Leah and Seth, who were all gazing at each other avidly, as though they each thought they had witnessed the oddest occurrence ever. "He healed them! And Seth ... Seth and Edward don't hate each other! Despite how they're _supposed _to, they don't. Ask them! Didn't the Cullens just fight with you, stand up for you against their oldest friends? How can you continue to convince yourselves you were meant to kill each other!" Angry tears were spouting out of my eyes by now – I was so frustrated with their reluctance. I knew I was right. I just _knew_ it.

"Shh, Bella … You can't change the world in one night." Edward pulled me into his laps, and Jasper's wave of calm flew through me again, slowing the tears. I didn't know what to say – I had been so sure that they would all realize, like I did, that they weren't meant to be enemies. Enemies was just something they had evolved into. It was a choice. And they were making the wrong one.

* * *

As I watched the last of the smoke die from the fire in front of me, leaning against Edward's icy chest, his arms around me protectively, I felt exhaustion seeping into my bones. My body seemed to become heavier and my eyelids drooped, but I was powerless to resist. I'd finally had one too many sleepless nights.

As the dying fire seemed to swim in front of my eyes, the soft babble of voices seemed to grow surprisingly clearer around me, and I caught snatches of the other's conversations.

"… How are we going to tell Emily? This'll kill her, she was so worried earlier …"

"… Think maybe she has a point. He _did _heal us, after all …"

"… Do you think Quil's okay?…"

"Is she asleep?" A wonderful, low, husky voice asked harshly. I didn't hear Edward's quiet reply. I struggled to open my eyes and tell them that I was awake, but my body wouldn't respond – I was too far gone from consciousness.

Warm fingers were pressed a little too roughly to my head. The warmth was surprisingly comforting … I realized that I had been cold, and couldn't suppress a shiver or two.

"Do you think she's coming down with anything?" Jake asked worriedly. My shivers must have been very noticeable. "I hear that exhaustion and over-excitement can do that to you. And she's been through a lot, hasn't she?"

"I've been worried about that, too." Edward replied softly, "She seems fine, though. She thinks she's so much stronger than she really is, and she's always trying to prove it, with no regard for her health and safety. It terrifies me; she thinks she's indestructible."

"She's got a point though." Jacob admitted grudgingly, and I realized that he didn't mean my fragility. "You're not … so bad."

"You're not quite so terrible yourself, Jacob. And I will never be able to repay you for taking care of Bella, of course." At this point, I must have shivered violently again, because suddenly Jacob's voice was worried again.

"She's cold." There was an awkward pause, and then – "Let me take her home. I can carry her – I'll keep her warm." Edward growled menacingly, and I remembered how Jacob's last attempt at keeping me warm had gone. "No funny stuff, I promise. I'm just thinking of Bella. Truce?"

I waited for Edward's reply, but none came. Instead, I found myself suddenly jolted awake by a sudden weight next to me. My eyes were resisting my efforts to pull them apart, though – they continued to want sleep.

"Wake up, Bella! This is important! Does she always sleep so deeply?" The high, impatient voice was echoing loudly in my ear.

"Shh, Alice. Let her sleep. She's exhausted."

"But it's past one in the afternoon!" Alice protested. I could imagine her pulling her face into its sweetest, saddest puppy dog look, her lower lip protruding pitifully. Edward had no choice but to give in with a sigh.

"Fine. But be sure that you call Charlie fist and let him no that Bella stayed over with you, and not me. He hates me enough as it is." So I was back int he Cullens house.

Alice jumped off the bed gleefully and ran for the door. "She'd better be awake when I return!" She warned dramatically over her shoulder. I snorted through my still-closed eyes.

Edward's lips were on mine in an instant. "Bella, wake up love. It's going to be a long day today."

"It is?" I asked tentatively, blinking the blurred sleepiness from my eyes. "Why?"

"It's Sam's funeral," Edward explained, kissing me once more before stepping lithely off the bed. "And we're all attending."

This news was a massive surprise to me. I blinked. "What? Why?"

"Silly Bella; didn't you want us to reconcile with the werewolves?" Edward laughed lightly.

"Well, yes, but …" I had no idea that my super power would take effect so quickly.

"Don't get complacent." Said Edward severely, "They want us at the funeral on Fist Beach only – we're still not welcomed in La Push. And it's only our family – Eleazar, Carmen, and the others aren't welcomed. The wolves don't trust them."

"But they trust you?" I gasped in hope and awe.

Edward raised an eyebrow. "They trust us not to cause any trouble at the funeral, at least. Jacob and I have … come to an _understanding_."

"What _kind _of an understanding?" I asked suspiciously. My favorite lopsided grin made its appearance as Edward shrugged.

"It's a secret that is between him and me." Edward teased. I didn't get to question him further, because at that precise moment, Alice came bounding back into the room.

"Three days to the wedding!" She announced to no one in particular.

I sat up – a little too quickly, my head spinning and spots forming in front of my eyes – "What? But we haven't finished the plans!" I exclaimed.

Alice shook her head in mock horror. "You think I couldn't handle that on my own, Bella? I did it all while you were sleeping. _I can't wait_!" She clapped her hands. "I have been waiting for this wedding since you and Edward started dating." I shot her a look; so did Edward. She ignored our less-than-pleased expressions. "Come on," She continued, latching on to my upper arm and dragging me out of bed and in the general direction of her room, "You've got to get ready for the day." Only Alice could get away with using a funeral as an excuse to Barbie someone up.

"Whoa. Sleeping creepy has awakened." Emmett laughed, clutching his chest in mock disgust as we passed him in the hall. I shot him a dirty look, which only spurred on his raucous laughter, realizing with a jolt that I hadn't looked at myself in the mirror – or showered, or changed, or brushed my hair – in days. Ew. Suddenly, I was really glad to have Alice.

She steered me into her room, where Esme and Rosalie waited on either side of the bed, surrounded by hundreds of hair and skin products in various shapes and colours, each brandishing a dangerous looking beauty tool. I groaned, but Alice pushed me past them into her huge bathroom, throwing new, expensive clothes in after me, ignoring my protests. After a long, hot shower, I emerged to find everyone poised, ready for me, Alice clutching a hair straitening iron with a look of pure concentration on her face.

"Let's get to work." She said in a business-like tone, rolling up her sleeves, a smirk playing on her model-like features. Nodding, Rosalie and Esme started to close in on me, smiling in what they must have thought was a reassuring way, blocking my path to the door, and with it, my last chances of escape.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Dun Dun Dun. Next Chapter up soon ... I wrote it this morning, while I was sick in bed ... And then I dragged myself down here to post both of them, knowing that I only have TEN DAYS to finish this! AHHHH!

But I WILL do it.


	19. Let Me Make A Wish Upon You

**Author's Note: **Short chapter. Filler. Last chapter with Jacob in it. I promise. Wedding in three days, yay! :)

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer, whom I am _not_.

* * *

Chapter Nineteen.

'**Let Me Make A Wish Upon You**'

The Forks weather was dark and overcast for Sam's funeral – which Alice had already known – gloomy and foreboding, as if the weather, too, was mourning. I didn't really absorb what was happening; I felt subdued, as if I was seeing things from someone else's eyes today – everything had an unreal quality.

Mostly, I watched the others. Sam's body had been buried in the early morning before the funeral, because he'd been in wolf form, and it would be hard to explain. Emily was sitting in the front row, surrounded by her family, sobbing desperately. She didn't look up during the whole procession, but continued to weep, heartbroken, having lost her other half. I thought I could emphasize with how she was feeling, though I wasn't Jasper.

The pack members were spread out among the procession, each seated with their respective families. Seth and Leah were on either side of Sue Clearwater, each of their faces blank, staring straight ahead and feigning rapt attention.

Quil was still missing – there was an empty chair where he should be, as if the person who had laid out the seats had hoped he would show up later. The chair was settled between Jake and Billy, and two people whom I figured must be Quil's parents.

I was seated between Charlie and Edward; the Cullens all seated to my right, and Charlie to my left. Both he and Edward were grasping my hands tightly, but I hardly noticed.

A bird chirped from somewhere behind us in the forest, and it began to rain, though no one moved. Eventually, the rain washed out the flames that had been lighted on the candles near the picture of Sam that had been laid delicately on the beach. Several more people were crying by now. I wondered vaguely how I was going to survive last-minute wedding perfecting plans after this, but at the same time, I knew that Alice enthusiasm wouldn't be stifled.

When the funeral ended, I stood up awkwardly with Edward and Charlie, who seemed to be retaining his bad spirited temper toward Edward, despite the sad occurrence.

"Will you be sleeping at home tonight, Bella?" He asked, throwing a few indignant looks at Edward as he spoke.

"Yes, I think so." I answered through my teeth. Charlie's expression changed to sheepish.

"Okay. Well … it's probably better that you do stay at _Alice's_ –" I didn't miss the inflection, "– because Renée has been sleeping in your bed, and you'd have to sleep on the couch." He sounded very uncomfortable as he said this, and I realized that I had forgotten that Renée had arrived yesterday, in light of everything else that had happened. I had also not realized that Renee would've had to stay at Charlie's house, without there being any hotels around. I hoped they were getting along alright.

"It's fine, Dad. I'll come home." I assured him. He seemed to brighten a little, and strode away, trusting Edward to take me home.

Billy and Jake came up to us on their way home, too.

"Good luck, Bella. With everything." Billy said seriously, resting his hand on my shoulder and holding my gaze with his deep set black eyes. I nodded. Jake held out his hand to Edward.

"See you around." He said, both of them wincing as the other's fire-hot and ice-cold hand gripped their own. I couldn't stop a slightly hysterical giggle from escaping. Jake frowned at me.

"You okay, Bells?" He asked seriously. I tried to pull myself together, nodding. Then, Jake smiled, but it was his Sam smile, his corrupted, cynical smile that chilled me. "Paul and I are going to look for Quil later." He said, "We're going on a three-day hiking trip through the woods around the clearing. We're not giving up." I knew right away, with a sick twinge of guilt, that he was giving me his excuse for missing the wedding.

"It's okay, Jake." I told him quietly. "You don't have to come."

He didn't look at me. He averted his gaze toward the ocean, over the cliffs, up at the sky, ignoring Edward completely, and acting as if he couldn't hear me. Finally, he studied my left shoulder. "Bye, Bells." He whispered. Then he sauntered away.

Edward looked down at me critically, as if assessing any wounds that may have been inflicted upon me during that conversation. "Are you alright?"

I smiled. A real smile, because I didn't feel the hole in my chest starting to fall apart again just yet. I knew that Jake would come around eventually. One day he would imprint, and we could finally rebuild our friendship back to what it was before, and whether or not I was a vampire wouldn't matter.

* * *

Two hours later, I was surrounded by hair, makeup, and skin products that littered my bed and lay open on the floor of my bedroom, which was now feeling a little cramped and claustrophobic, what with Alice, Rosalie, Esme, Renée and myself stuffed inside it.

"See? We could put a little daisy in her hair, and pin it back, but keep a little down in the front to frame her face …" Alice was explaining excitedly.

Renée smiled apologetically. "No. That wouldn't work. Too much white. It would clash with her wedding dress." She explained, carefully reaching out to brush a few stray strands of my long brown hair out of my face. I felt like an inanimate life-size Barbie, the way they were all ignoring me, circling around me like vultures, trying to match makeup and hair choices with accessories, clicking their tongues impatiently whenever something didn't seem to fit. At one point, they wondered out loud – as if I wasn't there, or was deaf – whether a veil would impair my vision too much and was likely to cause me to trip.

"I can't tell," Alice wailed to me moodily under her breath, "Now that Seth and Leah are planning on attending, I can't see how it's going to turn out." They decided against a veil.

I was supremely surprised that Rosalie was also helping again, though she didn't talk much, and she seemed generally bad-tempered. She'd been much more civil toward me, lately, though, and I greatly appreciated that she was trying.

Alice refused, point-blank, to reveal the bride's maids' dresses she had chosen to me when I asked her. "Bella, some things are meant to be a surprise." She had scolded.

"But you know I hate surprises!" Nothing I did could change her mind – my pleas fell on deaf ears.

"Don't worry," She'd laughed musically, "They're not deep blue."

Finally, after what seemed like days rather than only a few tedious hours, the four of them had managed to get me into my newly-hemmed wedding dress (courtesy of Esme), and had finished my hair and makeup, and decided on the finishing touches of a pale yellow daisy in my hair, which was to be left down, set with waves, and with the front pieces braided back.

"Yes, I think we'll use these ideas." Renée smiled approvingly, "Oh, you're going to look gorgeous!" She was positively glowing with excitement.

A small part of my mind was willing me to retort that, if I was a vampire already, I would _already _be gorgeous, and I wouldn't need all this extra attention to details to make me pretty. I managed to bite back that reply, though, and smile along with her. Before I got to bask in the glory of finally being wedding-plan free, however, Alice and Rosalie had grabbed me by each arm and were leading me into the hall.

"It's time to work on your walk." Alice instructed bossily, "I can't see what's going to happen anymore, so we've got to be extra careful to avoid accidents."

Rosalie sighed as I took my first wobbly step.


	20. This Heart, It Beats For Only You

**Author's Note:** So, Edward lies sometimes, huh...

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer, whom I am _not_.

Chapter Twenty.

* * *

'**This Heart, It Beats For Only You**'

Catching up with Renée was blissful, and I realized how much she had matured without me; when she had been forced to take care of herself, she had stepped up to the challenge. I was proud of her.

"It's so nice there, too." She gushed about Florida, "It really would be nice of you to live there. I think you'd like it …Maybe you and Edward can move there after University? You'd get used to the humidity, I promise – It's really not that bad." She smiled so expectantly and joyfully that I didn't have the heart to tell her Edward and I wouldn't be moving there. Ever. "So … you're getting married tomorrow! It's so exciting, isn't it?" She'd certainly taken the news a lot better than Charlie, who was still sulking, as if hoping that his childish behavior would convince me to call off the wedding.

"Yep." I blushed. I was extremely nervous. It was happening _tomorrow._ How time flies when a sadistic vampire tries to lure your fiancé away.

"You two seem to really be in love," Renée commented thoughtfully, "And I thought it was just a _crush_." She raised an eyebrow, "I never would've believed it if I hadn't seen it. You guys just … fit together."

Renée had no idea how much this praise meant to me. She looked at her watch suddenly. "Oh." She gasped, looking back at me guiltily. "I'm supposed to call Phil …"

"Don't worry about it, Mom." I said reassuringly, "Edward's supposed to be here to pick me up at any moment, anyway. We're setting up the last few details – you know, decorating the Cullens' yard, making sure the cake has icing …" I laughed. Renée looked thoroughly relieved as she headed for the phone. She really hated being away from Phil, but she hated disappointing me, too.

To my surprise, when the door bell rang, it wasn't Edward. Or even Alice, who would've been my next guess. Emmett stood there, a huge, impish grin on his face, leaning in to peer past the door frame, as if to check for spies, or hidden microphones. When he spoke, he kept his voice so low that I had to strain to hear it.

"Alice sent me."

"Where's Edward?" I demanded loudly, not bothering to play along. Emmett's face twisted so that he looked scandalized.

"Shh!" He put a hand over my mouth briefly, looking around again.

"Where's Edward?" I repeated in a whisper.

Emmett motioned for me to come closer; I leaned in, wondering what was going on, Emmett looked around wildly one last time before answering. "Alice says he's not allowed to see the bride the day before the wedding. Or the day of the wedding, _until_ the wedding."

"That's stupid." I retorted, forgetting to keep my voice down again. Emmett made frantic motions in mid air for me to hush. "What about the rehearsal?" I added, softer.

"There isn't one. Alice says there's too much to do to worry about such … 'trivial things'." Emmett grinned again, waiting for my sure-to-be-good human reaction.

I frowned. "Alice said that, did she?" What was Alice doing? I hoped she knew, because I certainly didn't. Reluctantly, I followed Emmett out to the car – to my surprise, _my _car – and got in with ill grace.

"Why are you driving my car?" I asked.

"Oh." Emmett laughed, "I wanted to try it out, so I took it. You should see your other one!" He let out a long, low whistle, "I'm not even allowed to _touch _that one."

I screwed up my eyes, wincing in dread as I pondered that fact for a moment. By the time I opened them again, we were there.

I had never spent much time in the Cullen's yard before – they were almost always inside the house when I was over, and I didn't encourage outdoor activities with the weather in Forks – so I was surprised at just how extravagant Alice had it looking. When she saw me, she bounced over, holding out a small piece of paper.

"Your schedule." She informed me, "You and Edward will be taking it in shifts to help me so that you don't run into each other, and it will take you up until about two hours before the wedding, when you will be too busy getting ready to see Edward, anyway." She smirked smugly. "Any questions?"

"Yes." I blinked, looking around. "Alice … you don't think you're going too … over board, do you?"

Alice looked deeply offended. "Let me be, Bella. It's not everyday I get to plan an event as momentous as your wedding. And your _first_ one, too!" She looked completely dazzled by the thought. Then, abruptly, she snapped put of it. "I need you to help Esme put up the arches – one at the beginning of the aisle, and one at the alter. Okay?" And then she was gone, off to spread her bossiness and over excitement to someone else. I made my way slowly to Esme, who was nailing pieces of an elaborate-looking arch together, looking perfectly at ease in her element. I imagined the havoc I was sure to wreak if I so much as touched the hammer.

As I approached Esme, she looked up, smiling warmly. "I'm almost done hammering these together," She announced, "And then you can decorate them." I let out a relieved breath, and she leaned closer to mock whisper, "Sorry about you having to help decorate your own wedding, Bella, but Alice is … keen on having everything perfect, and especially the way you like it. I guess this way, you'll be there to tell us if we're doing something wrong." She winked at me, and I distinctly saw Alice throw her a scowl over her shoulder.

As Esme very carefully handed me the first arch, I nervously grabbed the shimmering silver paint that had been left open for me, dabbing the brush in to begin to paint it. To my utter relief (though it could have been Jasper's relief, who was working unhappily on folding serviettes across from me), I managed to paint the whole thing without a single spill. Felling slightly more elated, I reached eagerly for the next arch, dipped in the paintbrush, and got ready. At that precise moment, Alice's head snapped up and she let out a horrible wail.

"Bella! No!" But her shriek had surprised me, and I jumped, sloshing paint all down over my shoes, the table, the paint can, some fifteen or twenty previously folded serviettes, and the arch. An uneven slab of paint settled there, and as I watched, transfixed with horror, it dried on in a blob.

Alice came running over, her expression mortified. "I didn't know it was _me _who caused that accident! I'm so sorry, Bella. I could've ruined your wedding." She sounded close to tears – if she'd had any. I put an arm around her consolingly.

"It's alright, Alice. Nothing's wrong – I can scrape the paint off. And I needed new shoes, anyway. The napkins are another story," I shot an apologetic look at Jasper, who looked ready to cry himself at having to refold all the seviettes, "But… It's fine. I can fix it."

Alice sniffed graciously and smiled. "Thanks, Bella. But you're not fixing anything. I'll get you to work on something safer, like …" She glanced around hopefully, "Helping Carlisle set up the chairs. Emmett was doing it earlier, but he wanted to prove he could carry more chairs than Carlisle, and he dropped them all, squishing a few." She made a face. Emmett shrugged sheepishly.

"I'd say I don't know my own strength, but, _I do._" He chirped happily, turning his head to the side and bringing his bicep up so that he could kiss it.

Alice's face blanked, and then she sighed, looking crestfallen all of a sudden.

"What's wrong, Alice?" I asked concernedly.

She shook her head. "Nothing, it's just … well, I really like this sweater, Bella, and now you're going to get paint all over it." No one could help laughing, and I, feeling my face get hot, hastily stepped away from Alice, swinging my arm over her shoulder. It hit the paint brush, which I had balanced precariously over the rim of the paint can, and sent it flying toward Alice, who ducked just in time, but the paint brush landed with a great splat behind her, leaving a long streak of shimmering silver down her back.

"Oops."

Alice craned her head back to get a better view of the damage. "Aw, well … _This means we can go shopping_!" She brightened up a bit. I hoped beyond hope that we would be too busy to find any time to go shopping before the wedding tomorrow.

* * *

Laying out chairs wasn't so bad; Alice had managed – probably by holding a lot of cash under someone's nose – to find folding lawn chairs that were actually comfy to sit in, and easy to set up. I only got my hand caught between the folds twice. All in all, it could've been much worse. - I could've cut myself again.

Finally, Alice's ringing, wind chime voice sounded from where she was helping Rosalie put together the bouquet. "Alright, Bella, time to go inside, you can eat dinner. It's Edward's turn to help." Just where Edward was I didn't know – he wasn't inside the house, because we didn't pass him on the way in.

"He's out." Alice had hinted simply, a kind of strange, smug, self satisfied undercurrent in her voice that I couldn't place. Then, she had reheated some pizza and left me to it. "I'll see you in an hour and a half." She said, "Just wander around until you find something to occupy your time. If you want to, there's a collection of sorts that I want you to pick through in my room." She hinted.

After swallowing the left over pizza, my curiosity won out over my sense of foreboding, and I crept into Alice's room. As it turns out, I should've left it alone – she had laid out a huge assortment of silky lingerie for me to pick through, but I refused to stare at it all more than necessary. Alice had really gotten carried away on that one. There was no way I was even going to touch them. I imagined the disappointed look on Alice's face as I told her, but it did nothing to discourage my decision to just leave them be. I decided to leave and ignore them

But, as I turned to leave, something caught my eye.

It was a long, frayed piece of paper, but a few words stood out: the words ORDER and BELLA were written in Edward's familiar, elegant scrawl. Thinking it was something else fancy and garish that I didn't want to know about, I marched over to it apprehensively. When I got close enough, I saw that it was an order form dated for a few months earlier. An order form for a charm; a small, heart shaped charm, by the looks of the form, and its price was – WHOA. Too much. Immediately, I realized what this charm had to be. My hand clutched at my wrist automatically, twisting my bracelet so that the minuscule "hand-me-down" charm was face up. Edward had lied to me, to trick me into wearing it. I realized it at once. Something stirred in my memory - that must have been what Alice had almost accidentally told me the day I had agreed to wear it. _That Edward had talked Alice into having it specially made._

Anger boiled up inside my throat like bile, and I bit down hard on my cheeks. I would've screamed, if I hadn't known that all the Cullens would come running, motherly worry etched in the frowns of Esme's face – no one would understand my irrational anger, Alice would even just shake it off, laugh, and Rosalie would scoff. No, it was Edward I needed to talk to now, and it couldn't wait until after the wedding.

Making up my mind, I stormed out of the house, almost walking right into him. He looked down expectantly, catching me by the shoulders to steady me. "You wanted to see me?" He asked, the corners of his lips twitching. I shot a scathing look at Alice over his shoulder.

"How could you?" I burst out when we were out of the sensitive earshot of his family. I tried to keep my voice down, just in case, but it was difficult.

"I'm sorry, Bella, I am, but I didn't think you would wear it if you knew how much it cost." He answered. He didn't sound sorry.

"Of course I wouldn't!" I snapped, clawing at the charm recklessly. He caught my wrist and pried my hand away from it.

"I just wanted you to be reminded of me as much as Jacob – I felt a little jealous." He admitted, "And I wanted to finally buy you something without such a fuss."

I shrugged off his good excuse, refusing to accept it. "And this ring?" I said airily, waving it in front of his face, "Is it store bought and ridiculously priced too?"

He went, if possible, even whiter than usual. "No, I swear. That really was my mother's. I want you to have it. It's important to me, as important as human things go, and I knew you would be, well … thoroughly upset if you found out later that I had paid for it. It really is old." He laughed. "Older than I am, actually."

I almost cracked a smile at that thought. But I held onto my anger, refusing to let it fade away. His smoldering eyes were threatening to make me forget what I was doing; I looked away from them, studying his perfect nose instead.

"And what else have you lied to me about, Edward? How much are you really trying to spend on me? I don't like this, you know I don't!" Angry tears were starting to boil up in my eyes again, I fought to keep them from spilling out. Edward relinquished his hold on my wrist and held onto me, crushing me to him instead.

"Nothing. I haven't spent anything more on you then you would appreciate."

A certain car suddenly popped into my mind. I opened my mouth to argue. He held up his hand, grinning in spite of himself. "The car is a different story." He said, "All Cullens need fast cars."

I took a deep, slow breath.

"I don't understand why you want to throw away all of your money on me for no reason." I complained.

Edward looked appalled. "Throw away … Bella, _I_ _love you_. I _want _to spend money on you; to take you out to fancy dinners, shower you in gifts, in vacations, everything."

I turned away, "But it makes me feel bad, Edward," I admitted after a while, "I've never had anything, and you give me _everything_, it makes me feel like I'm useless, and I hate feeling that way. I have nothing to reciprocate with."

A look of sympathy and comprehension dawned on Edward's face. He leaned in to bury his face in my hair, breathing deeply. "All I want is you. That's all I need."

I sighed, breathing in the lucious scent of him. "That's all I need, too, Edward. I don't need you to shower me in expensive, attention-grabbing things. I'm so happy that you're giving me you."

His lips met mine before I had even finished talking.

* * *

When we reemerged among the wedding decorators, Alice looked less than pleased. "I guess there's no reason for you to go back in the house, is there?" She mused, "Since you've already seen each other…" She sounded mildly disappointed. She'd even stopped jumping up and down.

"Oh, Alice, I'll go back and pretend nothing happened if you'd like." I offered. I grimaced at the thought, but she smiled merrily.

"Would you?" She said, a smile spreading wide and bright over her entire face, making her look positively angelic. "Thank you _so_ _much_, Bella."

I sauntered slowly toward the house, feeling more bored and lonely with every step I took further away from Edward. These next twenty-four hours were going to be hard, I knew, but it would be worth it in the end, I reminded myself. I also reminded myself to Internet search the next time Edward or Alice gave me any kind of "hand-me-down" before accepting it.

* * *

**Author's Note: **TEN DAYS TO GO. And I'm almost done. Yay. Wedding soon; I'm so excited. You know the only thing that could make me happier right now? REVIEWS. Even if it's just a one word thing like "good" or "bad" or "ahsagdsj". **_Please.just.Review._**

_On another note_ - I felt that this chapter was important because Stephenie Meyer said "sometimes Edward lies", and I wanted Bella to discover that he'd lied to her before the wedding, so that she wasn't marrying a liar, and have her forgive him, anyway ('cause we all knew she would). And to FINALLY have Edward understand why she didn't want him to splurge on her, because he just never seemed to get it.


	21. Standing Still, I'm Moving Faster

**Author's Note:** This is _not_ the last chapter. I'm not sure how many more there are - one or two, I haven't written them yet. :)

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer, whom I am _not_.

* * *

Chapter Twenty One.

'**Standing Still, I'm Moving Faster'**

I wondered, unsettled, what had changed. An hour ago, I had practically performed a song-and-dance number while getting out of my temporarily Edward-free bed – Er, couch.

And now, at eight o'clock, just eleven hours before my twilight wedding, I was staring up at the marvelous silver arch that had been strung with hundreds of tiny, glistening stars, and I was rethinking everything.

Why had I agreed to be married? Why had I let myself get talked into it, when it was the last thing I'd wanted? _I'd had the chance_, I reminded myself, _to have my own way, and I'd changed my mind_. _Decided to be moral, instead … Maybe I could just call of the wedding and jump ahead to the vampire-ness. _I thought desperately.

_This is what you wanted. _That stupid, maddeningly rational little voice said. Stupid conscience.

Without warning, something cold, hard, and small streaked out nowhere and smacked into me, giggling excitedly.

"Just _hours _away from the big event! Can you believe it?" Alice chirped. Her announcement sent tiny spasms of panic ricocheting through me, and my hands started to shake uncontrollably.

Alice caught sight of my face, the wide grin sliding of her own face immediately, and she stopped moving mid-bounce, standing stock still, looking at me concernedly. "What's wrong? You're – you're not having second thoughts, are you?" She eyed me shrewdly. She knew me too well.

Glad that we were out of Edward's ear shot – and mind shot – I nodded. "Maybe fate doesn't want us to be together. I mean, look at everything that's tried to tear us apart …"

Alice blinked, startled for a second, and then scowled, snorting derisively, "Of course fate doesn't want you to be together," She snapped, "You're a human, and he's a vampire. But there's not much fate can do about that now – soon you'll be a vampire too." She paused, "You just have cold feet." She decided in a would-be sort of calm voice. "It's very common." I didn't miss the traces of panic that were hidden in her tone.

Unexpectedly, Alice's eyes grew wide, and she stared at me accusatorially. "You haven't been talking to Jacob Black, have you?" She asked me suspiciously.

Now it was my turn to blink. "No. Why?" I was stunned. She didn't still think that I'd change my mind and choose him, did she? Because I wouldn't – I couldn't. Alice would've known if I had, anyway; she would've had a vision – or lost her vision – if I had. There had to be another reason for why she had brought up Jacob.

"Alice, what's going on?"

She shrugged, her eyes deceptively wide and her voice innocent. "Nothing."

"Alice?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, okay." She broke after a moment, "I don't like keeping things from you, you know I don't, but …" She looked away unhappily, shuffling her feet, "Seth called Edward today. He can't come to the wedding after all. It's been three days, and they still can't find a _sign _of Quil. They're all out looking now. I thought Jacob might've told you, and you'd felt guilty and decided not to get married after all." She finished in a soft, whispered voice.

I stood there, horrified, casting around in my completely blank mind for something to say. "…Maybe, maybe it's too early for a wedding. Maybe we should wait." I confessed eventually, "I mean, Sam's just died, Quil's missing, and there's just been a huge battle … Everyone's still in shock."

Alice shook her head knowingly. "Bella, if there's one thing we all need right now, it's this wedding."

I sighed; she was right, of course.

I could get married. I decided. I'd faced _worse_ and survived. After all, I ran with the vampires. And the werewolves. A wedding should be no problem.

"On the bright side," Alice added lightly as we made our way toward the house, "Now that the wolves aren't coming, I can see the ceremony again. And you'll _love _it. Remember to thank me."

* * *

I couldn't believe that ten short hours ago (where had the day gone?) I had been reconsidering this; almost decided to not to go through with it. As I stood, gazing at myself in the mirror, the brilliant smiles of my relieved wedding-planners reflecting behind me, I found it increasingly hard to believe that I had really allowed myself to doubt marrying Edward.

I twirled almost gracefully in front of the mirror – the extra grip on the bottom of my shoes was really effective. Behind me, Rosalie glanced at an expensive gold watch dangling delicately from her wrist. "Less than an hour to go." She declared, watching avidly as Alice, Esme, and Renée attacked my hair with hot curlers and styling products, causing a shiny, glossed over rippling, wavy effect to appear within my normally dull, limp hair. Completing the look was sheer yellow eye shadow and nail polish, and a petite, soft yellow daisy that had been placed precisely in my hair by Esme, and then impatiently adjusted by Alice again and again.

I groaned as the finishing touches were finally _finished_. "There's about ten minutes until my wedding – aren't we done yet, Alice?"

"Beauty is a long process." She answered simply. "You want to look breathtaking for Edward, don't you?" She had me there.

After quite a few last-minute wrinkle smoothings, I was deemed perfect enough to walk down the aisle.

"It's a shame that sweet woman, Emily, couldn't be here, isn't it? It's so sad what happened to her fiancé." Renée mumbled after a while, sounding detached. I felt my stomach clench. I had only mentioned Emily a few times to Renée I passing, but she must have remembered. I turned dismally to Esme.

"She doesn't blame me for what happened, does she?" I whispered tragically. Esme's face clouded with motherly concern, and she wrapped me in a bone-crushing hug.

"Of course not! Who could blame you?" She muttered bemusedly, "You and Edward really do belong together – you're both always blaming yourselves for things that had nothing to do with you, always wallowing in grief you don't need." She chided sadly.

Rosalie's shivery hand slipped into mine and gave a gentle squeeze. "Be happy – it's your _wedding _day!" She smiled. She even managed to look only the slightest bit upset that it wasn't _her_ in the spotlight for once. I returned the smile graciously – maybe I wasn't on friendly terms with Rosalie just yet, but I could definitely see her armor starting to crack.

Alice suddenly grabbed Rosalie's wrist to glare at her fancy watch. "Come on, everyone – places, places! The wedding is about to start!" She was glowing, looking absolutely chipper.

My heart flew into my throat at her words – but it was a good kind of feeling, nervous excitement. I knew that Esme, Rosalie and Alice could all hear my heart's sudden uplift in tempo as it raced to a hundred miles an hour. With difficulty, I forced down the butterflies that had been fluttering out of my stomach and into my throat.

Alice held my hand a little tighter than was actually necessary as she led me to the pale yellow, rippled curtain that was hung behind the arch where Charlie waited for me. He smiled broadly as he watched me approaching, and this time I was sure that I could see tears glittering in his crinkly eyes.

"Wow, Bells, you look … All grown up." He said gruffly.

"Good luck, honey," Whispered Renée, leaning in closer to give me a swift kiss on the cheek. Esme hugged me around the neck and wished me luck, too. Rosalie didn't say anything, but I distinctly saw her wave as she disappeared on the other side of the curtain.

When everyone else had already taken their places, Alice finally let go of my hand to briefly poke her head around the other side of the ruffled curtain. "Wow," She said breathlessly, "It's a beautiful ceremony. I can't wait to see it again, and in person, this time!" She turned back to me just before dancing fluidly to her place on the other side, a small simper on her face. "Be careful on that last step." She warned, "Or you'll trip."

For once, Emmett managed to hold in his laughter, but I thought I heard him give an unconvincing cough.

"Ready?" Charlie asked me, looping his arm through mine. I shook my head to clear the jumble of thoughts rolling around inside it. Fate was going to have to sit quietly by and watch this.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Though I wasn't ready – I knew it deep down, that while I wanted this, there was a part of me that was scared - very scared. But she was going to have to deal, because it was time for me to become officially bonded with my true love. _My soul mate_. I snorted. It still sounded cheesy.

Not that it mattered. Because, as I stepped out from behind the curtain, into the sea of ecstatic faces all beaming at me, I couldn't help but smugly tell myself – and fate – that none of it mattered. Not the risks, or what people would say, not even losing my family mattered that much anymore.

Because there, waiting for me under the other silver arch, under the twilight sky, with a huge crooked smile plastered onto his dazzling face, was Edward.

And he was all that mattered to me now.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sigh. I still feel like I haven't edited enough - it's tedius looking over your own work. Wildwood Harmony, if you're still willing, I still need a Beta reader! I need someone to tell me if my stuff sucks ahead of time, someone I can bounce ideas off of. Pleeease. This is me begging. :)


	22. What Would I Be Without You

**Author's Note: **LAST CHAPTER EVERYONE! HOORAY, FINISHED WITH TIME TO SPARE!

I worked really hard on tying everything up _somewhat _in this chapter, just enough to answer a few questions, yet leaving it open-ended enough so that anything could've happened. Let me know if it was good or not. ;)

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer, whom I am _not_. (sadly)

* * *

Chapter Twenty Two.

'**What Would I Be Without You**'

"You may kiss the Bride." _Those are my five favorite words from now on_, I thought happily, as Edward leaned down shyly to press his lips to mine. Everything else seemed to fade into non-existence for that second, and my heartbeat raced with anticipation. I was _married _to Edward now. It was exhilarating; belonging to someone you knew was perfect for you, someone you knew you would have for eternity.

Alice had been only too right about the last step – I stumbled, but Edward's arms shot out to steady me so fast that I didn't think anyone had even took notice.

I'd always wondered why people cried at weddings, when so many people seemed to not be able to cry at funerals. A wedding was a _good _thing, a _happy _thing – why cry? But in that one moment, smiling at Edward, watching his grin grow wider in return, I finally understood everything. People cried at weddings because it was so overwhelming, so satisfying to see the love, the affection, and the hope that ran between two people. A tear may have even escaped onto my cheek, too.

It was amazing how the Forks weather seemed to know just what the people wanted it to be like. It was unbelievably clear for Forks tonight, almost completely cloudless, the sky littered with tiny stars, sparkling beautifully like diamonds. Maybe Alice had checked the weather before setting the date. (I knew she'd checked for the volturi) The sky reminded me strongly of Edward and me – it was a reflection of our relationship – the midnight blue that I always wore for him, and the way his skin sparkled in the sun like millions of tiny diamonds were embedded delicately underneath it. I felt as if I was on an unbelievable, unbreakable high - Edward really was my heroin, and I his.

The Cullens all moved their food around their plates inconspicuously as the crowd of people attending my "small" wedding sat around eating and talking, waiting for the dancing to begin. (Alice swore that it was the smallest wedding she'd ever been too, but I was sure that everyone in forks was there.) Somehow, all of the Cullens' food kept making its way to my plate, so that when I had almost finished, suddenly a steak would appear out of nowhere.

To my chagrin, the dancing had to start sometime, and I was required to dance in the father-daughter dance, and to dance with Edward. Charlie was just as off-balance as I was, so we mostly just swayed awkwardly and uncomfortably in the spot, Charlie sniffling every now and again, and acting as if he didn't hear my constant asking if he was alright.

Edward was an entirely different matter when it came to the dancing. He felt the need to be ridiculously flashy, with elaborate twirls and dips, but he managed to keep his promise and stop me from falling – though he couldn't stop the inescapable heat that ran into my cheeks as I sensed everyone's eyes on us, and noticed Alice beaming with pride.

Thankfully, I spent the rest of the evening wandering through the sea of bodies, thanking people for coming, and for their yet unopened gifts, accepting their congratulations whole-heartedly. Edward chuckled mercilessly when we talked to a very sullen-faced Mike, who was chivalrous enough to paste on an only slightly-pained smile while we thanked him. He couldn't hide his feelings from Edward, though – or Jasper, who was eyeing him wearily from across the room.

We ran into Alice and Angela, who were laughing quietly, off by themselves near the edge of the expansive lawn. Alice was wearing the stunning bride's maid's dress that she had kept so well hidden from me – it was a long, sparkly yellow dress ("well, we had to match you!" Alice had explained,) with a slit that rose all the way to her waist, and one ribboned shoulder strap that tied in seamlessly with the embellishments. When she saw us approaching, she looked up, smiling mischievously.

"It looks like you guys are going to have a good night." She laughed. I blushed deeply at the thought of what she might've seen.

Angela gave me an enthusiastic hug when we reached her, wrinkling the front of her soft, green empire-waisted dress. She was near tears, too, I could tell. "Bella! You looked so amazing up there, I can't believe you actually just got _married_." Her tone wasn't condescending like Jessica's had been, it was simply awed. She looked from me to Edward and back again. "I'm going to miss you so much! When do you leave?" She added sadly.

I looked around at Edward, knowing that we were "leaving" when he decided to change me.

"Around the first of September." Edward answered, ignoring my indignant look as my heart sunk. I was ready to be changed_ tonight_, this was what I wanted. I hadn't thought he would wait so long after we got married – September was weeks away. But Edward shook his head slightly, motioning that I shouldn't bring it up now.

As we navigated our way to a secluded area on the outskirts of the crowd, I turned to him angrily. "Why are you waiting so long to change me?" I demanded, in a voice that I had meant to be ringing with anger and authority. Instead, it sounded hurt and exhausted.

Edward took my hand, pulling me close, his scent, his cool body, and his smell all hypnotizing me, making it hard to remember to even breathe, giving him time to speak without interruptions.

"You want to spend the rest of the summer here with everyone, don't you?" He breathed. _No. _I thought. I had been so sure that the last time I would see them all would be during my wedding. I had been prepared – to have to say goodbye again would be heart-wrenching. "I know you think you don't_ now_," He purred knowingly, "But you'll be grateful later, when you won't be able to see them anymore, when anything can happen … I want you to have a full human experience, and if you want to be a vampire, I need some extra time to fit everything in." He smiled, "And Alice has some human-type things she wants you to try first, too. And what would Emmett do without you falling a little more?" I groaned, and he chuckled. "Everyone's been through a lot lately, too, Bella." He added seriously, "I think we should leave everyone time to heal before we break the treaty. You wanted to end the feud, remember?" He breathed deeply, "And we do need time for a honeymoon." He said seductively, reaching down to kiss my forehead. I sighed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I admitted reluctantly. He laughed again at my stubbornness.

"I _am _right. I'm always right." He said smugly.

We rejoined the group of people that was getting smaller by the minute; people were returning home now that it was getting late. The thrill and excitement of the wedding had kept me going like caffeine – but I couldn't help but feel my eyelids get droopy now.

"You're tired. Maybe we should call it a night." Edward whispered patiently in my ear.

I shook my head – more to wake myself up than to disagree – "I don't think so. I'm getting my human experience tonight. It's very im-im-portant." I added, failing to stifle a yawn. Edward tried to plead with me, but I refused to budge. I had waited long enough.

Renée was the last one to leave. She had really hit it off with Esme – they decided to keep in touch – Esme's motherly tenderness worked wonders for canceling out Renée's hyperactive immaturity. Opposites really do attract. By the time Renée had called it a night, dawn was breaking through the distant clouds.

"I love you, honey, take care, okay?" She murmured sadly in my ear as she hugged me goodbye. Then, she leaned into Edward, wrapping him in a hug that was just as affectionate, appearing not to notice his more-than-subtle drop of body temperature. "Take good care of her, promise?" She coaxed him.

He nodded, looping an arm around my waist. "Every day."

We watched her leave in the dim, shadowy dawn light that was steadily growing brighter.

"Is it just me – or have I been sleeping a lot less since I met you guys?" I asked jokingly to Edward. He didn't respond; he was shooting furtive looks at the woods behind the house, evidently having not heard me. I strained my eyes, squinting into the pinkish light, trying to see what he was seeing – but I couldn't pick anything out. "What is it?" I asked worriedly. Thoughts of Tanya, and Kate's awful power were flooding into me, and I shuddered, cowering behind Edward, who reflexively tightened his grip on my waist. I was steadying myself, preparing for the worst, but his answer surprised me.

"It's Jacob Black."

Sure enough, a lone figure, looking torn and neglected from having spent three days in the forest, was striding quickly and fluidly toward me. Edward nodded once in Jake's direction before dropping my hand and disappearing – I assumed – into the house. I was left standing alone, confused.

"Can I … Can I talk to you for a minute Bells?" Jake asked, staring pointedly at his feet. I had never seen Jake nervous before. He'd always been so sure of himself when he was trying to convince me that I loved him, trying to kiss me, sneering back at Edward when he did. I was momentarily caught off guard at his lack of abrasiveness. I nodded.

"Sure, Jake. What's up?"

He took my hand, still not looking at me, and began to lead me toward the forest. He was moving much quicker than was really safe for me to move in my clumsiness, but he didn't seem to want to slow down, even when I tripped. It wasn't until I was sprawled out on the grown, dirt staining my lovely silk gown, that he bent down to pick me up, looking apologetic, and continued on much slower. When we reached the very edge of the woods, half covered in shadow, he stopped abruptly and turned to face me, his face pained.

"I'm sorry I missed it." He said dejectedly, motioning with his head back toward the wedding area. I wanted to say it was okay, but I felt too bad for him. I nodded feebly, irreversibly tongue-tied.

For a long moment, we didn't speak, just stood there in silence, me staring at his beautiful, haunted-looking face, him staring at our inter-locked hands. Finally, he let out a breathy huff. "We've renegotiated the truce." He said quickly. "That's what the lee- Edward's gone to tell them. They can change you now." He looked up at me, sadness and resignation etched in his every feature.

I gasped at the news, marveling in happiness and sadness at the same time – eternity with Edward was leaving me breathless with excitement and anticipation, but Jacob's current state was making me pathetically depressed, too.

"See, Bells …" Jake began slowly, pondering my face as he spoke, having finally looked up at me – now he was looking both nervous and determined. The sadness was replaced with conviction. "_I _have a theory, too. I think you were always fated to be my imprint, always. But –" I started to retort, but he put one sweltering hand over my mouth to silence me. "But you had _already _imprinted yourself, so to speak. You had fallen for that bloo- for Edward, and that had stopped our fate. I was just too late." He sighed, suddenly once again absorbed in the pattern of his shoelaces. His shoulders slumped dully, and I felt sorry for him, but he ploughed on. "So I'll never imprint, Bella. It will always be you. And I've relinquished you for now, and let you get married," He grinned briefly, explaining this with an air of condescension and possession, "But I'll still be waiting, Bella. Forever. Vampire or not, one day you may change your mind. If you need me Bells, ever… you know where to find me."

And with that, he leaned down quickly to kiss me on the forehead, and stepped into the inky blackness of the forest shadows, and was gone without a sound, courtesy of the drastic gracefulness he had attained by turning into a beautiful monster. I turned back to the house now, ready to return to my own beautiful monster, who was undoubtedly waiting.

All thoughts of Jake vanished as I raced through the threshold of the Cullen house, and into the waiting arms of Edward. He smiled as he caught me, and spun me around with ease before bringing me close to kiss me, almost crossing his own invisible lines.

"So – Edward –" I choked out between kisses, "From – what – Jake told me – it sounded like – the treaty is – completely changed, and – and the vampires – can visit – La Push now?"

Edward smiled, his cool forehead pressed against mine, breathing just as heavily as I was. "Not just any vampire can cross the border." He clarified, "Just you. When you become one. But, the wolves have amended most of the treaty to suit us, and you could say that it's a small step in the direction you're hoping for."

My heart leapt for joy. "It's great that they're doing that. I didn't want to lose them."

"Don't think that that means they're letting you in as a newborn." He warned, "There's a good four years before that part of the treaty kicks in. You're still a danger to them there, especially if you're relying on your primal instincts."

I shrugged this off. Nothing could ruin my chipper mood now. I noticed that Edward had changed into his regular day clothes, and I stepped reluctantly away from him, and set off to change, too. My clothes were in Alice's room, but for some strange reason, Alice wasn't. The Cullens were giving us our privacy. (I appreciated it, knowing how hard it must be, for Emmett especially.) Once I was back into my normal, comfy sweat pants and band tee, I raced down the stairs, using the banister liberally for support, to stop my knees from giving out and sending me plummiting toward the bottom, where I was sure to obtain another injury; and Eleazar wasn't here anymore to fix it.

Edward was waiting at the bottom step, and his smile grew huge, lighting up his magical features, blowing his ethereal beauty out of proportion when he saw me.

"Are you ready?" He asked me, lacing his long, cold fingers through mine. I realized I had been asked this once earlier today, and I had been more scared than certain then.

I took a deep, steadying breath to calm myself, and let my overactive heart slowly return to its normal paces. In truth, I had _never _been more ready in my life than right now, and I was finally over my fears of the future. Everything seemed so certain from this side of marriage. I nodded. "Of course."

A small, crooked smile twitched on his lips for the umpteenth time that day. I was already making him happy, I realized with a jolt of bliss.

His frozen lips leaned in hesitantly, almost deliberately, to press themselves briefly onto my neck, and slowly begin their journey upward, along my chin, my jaw, heading all the time toward my lips. At last, they came to a rest, and I felt myself being scooped up into Edward's arms, like a bride. _I am a bride. _I remembered serenely; I had never thought I'd be this happy about it.

As soon as I was settled into his strong Adonis arms, Edward ran, the world becoming a blur of lights and sounds that was actually thrilling instead of frightening for once, and it was with wonderful enthrallment that we headed towards our meadow.

* * *

**Author's note: **I know I promised no more Jacob, but I had to use him to clear up some pack stuff. I hope you're not too mad. :) By the way, Jake's only like sixteen/seventeen, _eventually_ he's going to get over his crush on Bella, it's not like he imprinted on her (because Edward got there first). At least, that's what I think. Let me know what YOU think.

P.S. - I have pictures of Alice's, Angela's and Rosalie's dresses on my profile (I know Rosalie's dress isn't mentioned in this draft, but I found a very Rosalie-ish, low back, curve hugging dress, so...)

I might add deleted scenes from this story into it later, if you guys want that, so I can't really say that it's officially "completed" just yet. We'll see.


	23. Deleted Scene: How Sweet Of Tanya

**Author's Note: **This chapter is an unfinished chapter that I stopped half-way through out of frustration, as it was supposed to be relevant, but ended up hopping the "filler" rail. There was supposed to me more about Tanya trying to break up Edward and Bella in the end, but...

This takes place somewhere between "Feeling Blue" and "All Hell Is Breaking Loose" - originally there was no "All Hell Is Breaking Loose", and the end of that chapter was also a part of the end of this chapter. Anyway ...

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight series is the imaginative creativity of Stephenie Meyer, whom I am _not_.

* * *

Tanya's Lost Chapter.

'**How Sweet Of Tanya'**

As we all sat awkwardly around the Cullen's living room, Tanya decided it was her turn to ask the questions. She started with Carlisle.

"So … _how did _you manage to rid yourselves of that army of newborns, when you were so outnumbered?" She asked, with a false air of curiosity. Carlisle tugged at his shirt collar as if it were choking him – which, of course, it couldn't.

"Well …" He started, obviously reluctant to go on. He didn't have to, because Rosalie decided to speak up for him.

"We trained hard with Jasper." She answered, almost spat, and on Esme's reproachful looks she amended her story, her tone slightly less haughty. "We trained really hard for a while. We're good fighters, what can I say? You _really _wouldn't want to cross us." It sounded almost like a threat to me, but no one else seemed to take any real notice, least of all Tanya. Rosalie caught me staring at her and shot me a dirty look.

* * *

It seemed as if only I could tell that Tanya seemed to be trying inconspicuously to convince Edward to leave me. Everything she did; everything she said – it all seemed to connect back to me somehow.

The day after Tanya had arrived, she had followed Edward and I around the whole day, and didn't lose an opportunity to say things like: "So … Bella's not a vampire. Are you sure you want to change? As I'm sure Edward's already told you – she must not listen very well, does she? – it means giving up a lot. Your friends, your family, your life … And it means gaining a lot of things like dependency, and pain, oh, it's _agony _to change. I wouldn't want to go through it if I were you." Or to mention things like : "Let's have a race? I'm sure Emmett wants to? Everybody in – oh, yeah – I'd forgotten that Bella couldn't do those kinds of things."

Sometimes, it seemed as though Alice could see through Tanya, too. I often caught her shooting Tanya disgusted looks over her shoulder, or pasting a scowl on her face whenever Tanya started talking. It wasn't like Alice at all to dislike someone – I knew that she had to know or had seen something that I didn't know about to be acting like that.

It seemed like my suspicions were confirmed one day when Esme came to pick me up, rather than Edward or Alice. I was mildly surprised when I saw her waiting for me. She smiled and shrugged apologetically.

"Edward and Alice had to have a private conversation … you know how Alice is about the wedding plans, and she's almost impossible to reign in…" I didn't buy that story for a minute - It just wasn't up to the Cullens' usual lying standards. It seemed as though Edward and Alice were so deep in their "private conversation" that they didn't even hear me clambering loudly up the stairs, and staggering toward Edward's room. I didn't hear them until I got within a meter of the door, and then I could only hear Edward's half of the conversation (I assumed Alice's half was in her head), but what I heard was frightening.

"No. There's no reason she needs to know. She's so insecure as it is."

_I've added Alice's lines in, since there's no need to keep the ending a "surprise" now that the story is over. _

"_Edward, you can't keep this from Bella. It's a big deal. She's probably not as unsure as you give her credit for, you're just being over protective."_

"No, Alice. Trust me, she doesn't need this worrying her. It's not a big deal."

"_If Tanya's in love with you, and is trying to talk you out of marrying Bella, IT IS A BIG DEAL. A huge deal. Bella needs to hear it from you … You know she picks up on everything – she's probably already noticed Tanya's less-than-subtle struggles. You need to let her know before she thinks you're hiding things from her."_

"She's my responsibility, and it's my decision. She doesn't need to know. It would only be unneeded stress for her."

"_But –"_

"Shh!"

My heart beat had quickened as I listened to them talk, presumably about me, and to make everything worse, I had leaned in to press my ear cautiously against the door to catch all of Edward's low mumbles, but lost my footing, and had fallen forward to hit the door with a dull thud that every vampire within a mile radius must have heard. I knew that they were aware of my presence now, for sure.

Before I'd even had time to breathe, Edward had swung the door open, picked me up (ignoring my squirming, silent protesting) and had dropped me unto the leather couch near his CDs. He looked down at me worriedly. I was so sure that he wanted to know what I had heard that I opened my mouth to explain, but he cut me off quickly.

"Are you alright, Bella? You didn't hurt yourself on the door, did you?" How fragile did he think I was?

"No, I'm fine." I said in an exasperated voice. I was so tired of always being the damsel in distress. "What were-?" But this time, Alice cut me off.

"Well, I'd better be going. Jasper needs to hunt." And she got up to leave, but not before giving me a quick peck on the cheek in greeting. "See you later, Bella. And don't forget that we're going shopping later."

The idea of another shopping trip with Alice pushed the immediate thought what they were discussing out of my head. I made to jump up, but Edward held me back deliberately. "We can't attack Alice." He chided jokingly, suppressed laughter brimming in his voice.

"Shopping? Why?" I demanded desperately.

Alice inky halo of shiny hair bobbed up and down as she tried unsuccessfully to keep herself from dancing on the spot. "Because you need new clothes, silly. We've got to stock up. If you're going o be a vampire soon, you won't be able to go to the mall for a while…" Did I imagine the hint of pain and sadness in her voice when she mentioned lack of shopping? I didn't think so. Predictably, though – she brightened up, clapping. "Oh! But there'll still be online shopping. I'm sure we could just use that for a few years."

I sank down into the couch with a groan as I watched Alice glide cheerfully out the door. Edward chuckled at us both and bent down toward me, his lips finding mine eagerly.

"I really have no idea how you two get along so well most of the time." He confided between kisses with mock amazement. "You don't even like her greatest passion."

* * *

**Author's Note: **So that's it. Yeah, It's kind of unfinished. I just posted it because of the extended-Tanya part. I'm also going to post some parts of the wedding that got cut out, like the small part about Rosalie's dress and such. Thanks for sticking with me through this whole thing - and all of my super-long author notes. :) xo


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